The Pitch:
Emma Watson is very much not Hermione Granger.
I'm a Sofia Coppola fan. I'm certain of it now.
After seeing The Virgin Suicides and Lost In Translation soon
after they came out, I went a decade before seeing anything else of hers. I
liked those two movies well enough. I really enjoyed 2017's The Beguiled.
I was equally impressed by what she did with Marie Antoinette once I
finally saw it. Now add The Bling Ring to the list of her movies that
I've seen and liked. Only Somewhere remains, and I suspect that I'll
like it too.
Now, there isn't a
lot to The Bling Ring. It's a thin movie. It follows this group of
narcissistic teens committing luxury crimes more than it actually tells their
story. Coppola keeps a distance from them. You can either read that as her
trying to refrain from judgment or assuming the morality of the story is
self-evident. I lean toward the latter.
I figured more
names would come out of this movie. I assumed it would be one of those movies
where everyone turned out to be a year away from breaking out. Like Tanner
Hall. That had Brie Larson and Rooney Mara before anyone had a reason to
know who they were. The Bling Ring is a natural fit for forward-thinking
casting. It's about LA socialites. That means every up-and-coming actress ready
to claw her way to fame was already a perfect fit for the role. For the most
part though, Emma Watson is still the only big name in The Bling Ring
crew. Taissa Farmiga is the next biggest, I guess. But Claire Julien, Katie
Chang, Georgia Rock, and Israel Broussard still have The Bling Ring as
by far their biggest roles. Maybe that's why it hasn't had the same shelf life
of other early A24 films.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
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