Director Sofia Coppola is no stranger to stories examining the emotional vagaries of fame. She’s returning this week with her fifth feature film, “The Bling Ring,” a fictionalizes the true story Los Angeles teenagers who successfully burgled the home of dozens of celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and others.
The film takes a dispassionate but incisive look at a world where value is derived from how much time a person spends in the public eye. But do critics think that dubious fame is a good subject to be explored, much less by a filmmaker who herself comes from a famous family?
Suffice it to say that critics thus far are divided on the film, some celebrating its arm’s length portrait of social climbing, and others criticizing its lack of, well, criticizing its characters and its subject. But as you’re deciding whether to watch Coppola’s latest, take a look at some of the opinions MTV News culled from around the critical community, to see if the film’s approach sounds like something you’d like to see.
What Do Longtime Supporters Think Of Coppola’s Latest?
“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.” — Stephanie Zacharek, The Village Voice
What Does The Movie Have To Say About Celebrity Worship?
“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, a glimpse at a generation caught between feeling entitled to everything they can touch, and being owned by everything they can see.” — David Ehrlich, Film.com
Is Coppola In Touch With Her Teen Protagonists?
“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?” — Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
Is The Celebrity-Obsessed Plot Worthwhile?
“When making a film based on actual crimes, there’s a natural inclination to want to explain precisely what drove the perpetrators to commit their deeds. But in the case of ‘The Bling Ring,’ writer-director Sofia Coppola’s rationale for their crimes is quite simple: They did it because they were extraordinarily shallow and materialistic. It’s an intriguing notion, but one wishes Coppola wouldn’t pound on this single point for her movie’s entire running time.” — Tim Grierson, Paste Magazine
Ultimately, Will You Care About Them And Their Story?
“With her constantly pounding soundtrack beats and a group of characters who act out the definition of the words ‘aimless’ and ‘self-obsessed,’ Coppola tries to engage us in a story of people we should not only NOT care about but who we should actively dislike… You can’t help but engage. At least I couldn’t.” — Marshall Fine, Hollywood & Fine
Check out everything we’ve got on “The Bling Ring.”
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