The Bling Ring

Directed by Sofia Coppola
(R)

**

Sofia Coppola’s new fast-paced caper is “a decidedly less searching work” than she’s been known for, said Jon Frosch in TheAtlantic.com. Dramatizing a true story about a small gang of celebrity-obsessed teens who robbed the California homes of Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, the writer-director has created a stylish film loaded with “snappy dialogue,” dark humor, and various “gorgeously choreographed” youth bacchanals. In “an amazing transformation,” Emma Watson of Harry Potter fame assumes a leadership role among the burglary crew by affecting the ugly arrogance of a conscienceless Valley Girl bully, said David Denby in The New Yorker. “Supremely confident” editing keeps the story moving, and Coppola uses her slight story to explore larger themes about the pitfalls of our fame-obsessed culture. If that was her intent, it escaped me, said Richard Corliss in Time. Coppola’s tone is so cool here that we never even sense why the gang was attracted to crime. If she wasn’t interested in plumbing their motives—let alone illuminating the story’s broader significance—“why’d she bother?”