The Bling Ring (2013) "Sofia Coppola is worried that people won't get The Bling Ring."
That's my opening line of my
original review and watching it again it's still the most damning part of the film. The tiny bits of narration and interviews interspersed at the front and back ends of the film are completely unnessary and undercut the generally understated nature of the film.
And it's a shame because I think this is a fascinating look at the sickness of the American celebrity. These kids want to be them but go to the extreme of stealing from them which they actually get away with for quite a long time simply because these people are so rich they don't notice when tens of thousands of dollars worth of possessions disappear from their houses. If that's not a sign of the sickness of celebrity wealth, I'm not sure what is.
I also hate the third act pivot into focusing on Emma Watson's character as I think she's the least interesting member of the cast. I get why it's here because she basically is the one who finds a way to turn all of this into a way to make herself a celebrity but there's just not enough setup in the first act for the last act perspective shift to work.
Honestly, this might be Coppola's weakest film. I need to see Somewhere again, but where that film at least trusts its audience enough to take in the world of the rich and famous and glean the existential dread, here the sinister obsession with celebrity culture is beaten over our heads to the point that this is an uncharacteristly sloppy work from one of the most understated directors working in Hollywood today.