Review Roundup: Emma Watson Stars in THE BLING RING

From Oscar Award winning writer and director Sofia Coppola, The Bling Ring tells the story of a group of teenagers obsessed with fashion and celebrity that burglarize celebrities' homes in Los Angeles. Tracking their targets whereabouts online, they break-in and steal their designer clothes and possessions.

Reflecting on the naiveté of youth and the mistakes we all make when young, amplified by today's culture of celebrity and luxury brand obsession, we see through the members of The Bling Ring temptations that almost any teenager would feel. What starts out as teenage fun spins out of control and leaves us with a sobering view of our culture today.

"The Bling Ring" stars Emma Watson alongside incredible new talent Israel Broussard, Katie Chang, Claire Julien, and Taissa Farmiga. The film also features Leslie Mann, Gavin Rossdale, and real-life Bling Ring victim, Paris Hilton. It is based on the Vanity Fair article "The Suspects Wore Louboutins" by Nancy Jo Sales.

Let's see what the critics have to say!

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News : "Coppola, in the first film made in her 40s, easily melts into her antiheroes' world, with their punky esthetics and click-and-it's-gone attention spans. Yet 'The Bling Ring' is less 'A Face in the Crowd' for the TMZ era as it is more celebutard-spawned scrap. Yes, it's creepy how comfortable the kids were in the Louboutins of their 'fashion idols,' as one of them refers to Lohan. But, hey, didn't they look fabulous in them?"

David Ehrlich, Film.com: "Coppola isolates us from the hedonistic fever that rushes through these kids, positioning her audience to enjoy the spectacle of these robberies without ever entirely understanding their thrill. As a result, 'The Bling Ring' plays less like a movie about celebrity culture or a uniquely current strain of entitlement than it does as a concerned portrait of lost perspective."

Stephanie Zacharek, The Village Voice: "Until now, I have loved every one of Coppola's movies: I love her sure and delicate touch, and she's better than any other contemporary filmmaker at capturing the greatness of small moments. 'The Bling Ring' is the first of her pictures that I actively dislike - I sense no mystery, no depth there."

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone Magazine: "The bling looks so tasty you want to lick the screen ...Coppola lets us revel in the bling before pulling us up short. There are victims here, even though many of them took forever to notice what was missing. Though Coppola's source material is a 2010 Vanity Fair article by Nancy Jo Sales, her script is attuned to the internal dynamics of these teen felons."

Tierney Sneed, US News: "Moments - especially those that include Watson, who transforms her British accent into a Valley girl whine - are darkly humorous. But much of "The Bling Ring" is horrifyingly matter of fact. Its characters never once ponder the legal or moral consequences of their actions. More despairing is how blind their parents appear to be to the repercussions. Once caught, the teens get a taste of the very celebrity they tried to emulate, perhaps the scariest aspect of all."

To post a comment, you must register and login.