Is Sofia Coppola’s oeuvre simply a product of her famed father Francis Ford’s success? In other words, would her pictures get made if she wasn’t a Coppola?

The Academy Award-winning female filmmaker would probably answer yes; a reply I would disagree with vehemently.

Sure, her first two films – The Virgin Suicides and Lost In Translation – were passable but the following two?

Marie Antoinette was only good for its soundtrack and Somewhere was implausibly minimal: both superficial, pseudo-arthouse efforts, with little substance.

 

 

Is her latest any different? Well, arguably, it’s worse.

The Bling Ring is based on the real life stories of a group of celebrity-obsessed teenagers who raided the houses of several household names: Paris Hilton and Orlando Bloom, amongst others.

As the film progresses we follow Marc (Israel Broussard), Rebecca (Katie Chang), Nicki (Emma Watson), Chloe (Claire Julien) and Sam (Taissa Farmiga) as they gallivant around California, breaking into houses, stealing expensive goods, partying at clubs and, um….that’s about it. Repeat cycle multiple times.

 

 

This, in a nutshell, is why the film is so problematic: it is a depthless, step-by-step account of a series of events, blindly intercut with a few shallow character interviews, post-jail.

Bizarrely, the obligatory character studies crucial for a picture of this nature are missing.

For instance, Coppola largely ignores what it is that drives the film’s adolescents to thieve, neither does she examine the roots of their celebrity infatuation: both pertinent issues any other discerning director would have considered to be of the utmost importance.

Instead, the audience is subjected to a lazy, facile, one-dimensional view of the circumstances: in short, there’s nothing in this film that isn’t already on Wikipedia.

Emma Watson overacts. Again. Sporting an artificial American accent – after a year and a half at an Ivy League school – she stumbles through the picture, embarrassing herself at every possible turn.

(One struggles to think of a suitable English replacement: Gemma Arterton? Too old. Carey Mulligan? Never. Juno Temple? Maybe.)

Next to her largely unknown but gifted co-stars, Watson crumbles. Broussard exhibits much talent; sadly, he is likely to have profited better under a more competent director.

Like Coppola’s previous two efforts, I don’t see a point to the picture. Why base a feature on such a fascinating story if one does not plan on delving deeper into the murky depths of a troubled teen’s mindset?

There’s so much more on offer here, yet Coppola simply chooses to scratch the surface and ignore the real issues pervading these delinquents, in the process clumsily repeating herself.

 

Poor effort, Sofia. Time to make a real film.

 

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Stars - ★★

Reviewed by Rehan Mudannayake

 

The Bling Ring

Biography | Crime | Drama

Plot: Inspired by actual events, a group of fame-obsessed teenagers use the internet to track celebrities' whereabouts in order to rob their homes.

Director: Sofia Coppola

Writers: Sofia Coppola, Nancy Jo Sales

Starring: Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson