thoughts on The Bling Ring

Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring follows a group of L.A. teens who rob a series of celebrities' houses (Paris Hilton, Rachel Bilson, Lindsay Lohan, etc.).  The houses are all so easy to get into that I would find the robberies unbelievable if this film weren't based on a true story.  I'm used to these elaborate heist movies where the would-be thieves spend considerable time researching how to override or sidestep security systems; here, the teens simply find out via the Internet when specific celebrities are going to be out of town, then walk into their homes by way of keys hidden under the mat, through dog doors, or through back doors carelessly left unlocked.  Once in, the teens basically just go shopping; they typically just take an item or two each, seemingly more interested in having things that are owned by celebrities and hanging out in their houses than in seeking out specific items, or the most expensive items. 

I suppose that is what is compelling enough about the real-life story to make it into a movie: these kids are not your typical thieves, but rather a group of teens living just outside the celebrity world and wanting to find a way in.  They party at the same clubs as people like Kirsten Dunst and Paris Hilton but don't personally know them.  Two of the teens, Nicki and Sam (Emma Watson and Taissa Farmiga), are homeschooled by Nicki's mom, Laurie (Leslie Mann), and Laurie presents a "vision board" of Angelina Jolie as a role model that the girls should aspire to as part of a school lesson.  Nicki and Sam also at one point discuss going on auditions for modeling and acting roles, but other than that, none of these kids seem to have any real goals or interests or really care about anything.  After one robbery, they casually brag at a party that they "were at Rachel Bilson's," as if Rachel Bilson had invited them there.  At another point, a character named Chloe (Claire Julien) gets a DUI, and she just laughs about how high her BAC was; there doesn't seem to be any concern about how this might affect her future.  Even when the teens face charges for the crimes, Nicki talks about it as a "learning lesson" and uses the experience as an opportunity to get interviews/exposure.  Another character, Rebecca (Katie Chang), asks, during her interrogation, whether the investigator has talked to the celebrities and eagerly wonders aloud what Lindsay Lohan said.  Only one member of the group (Marc, played by Israel Broussard) seems to feel any guilt or unease about the robberies, and only he and Rebecca seem particularly upset about having been caught.

The end result is a movie that I found fairly disturbing. I can kind of understand why the kids are the way they are; the only parent we spend much time with is a complete flake, and most of the other parents seem to be largely absent from their kids' lives, which is maybe why they have so little fear of consequences. At times I almost got all "Kids these days!" about the movie, but not only are the teens in this movie not typical thieves, I also don't really believe they represent that many teens. If we were to believe that the teens in this movie are simply extreme examples of teens in a culture that celebrates/glorifies fame and wealth, the film could, theoretically, be making a statement about the perils of celebrity and surveillance culture.  Because I believe the teens in this film are pretty far off the map in terms of morals, values, and life goals, though, I think it's basically just an interesting, well-told and reasonably well-acted story.