The Bling Ring

There are times when Sofia Coppola can be a very mannered and annoying director. Here she is less so and confidently on home turf with an exposé of youthful LA celebrity culture. The Bling Ring, premièred this evening (16 May) as part of the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, and shown to the media earlier.

Her gang of girls and one guy take a vicious delight in robbing the homes of their celebrity icons such as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Rachel Bilson, Orlando Bloom and Megan Fox and building a stash of designer goods, cash and drugs.

They manage the heists with surprising ease, checking out the internet to find out if their intended victims are home or out of town at a well-publicised event awards ceremony, concert or a film shoot. Keys are conveniently to be found under mats, car doors mistakenly left open and any useful security inexplicably absent. Credulity tends to be tested but it is mainly based on real events.

The parents of these teens are equally self-obsessed with one of the ultimate accolades being an article in Vanity Fair about the misadventures of their off-spring.

The bonding and rivalry between the girls is neatly observed with Emma Watson particularly strong as the brash young Nicki. Her siblings include adopted sister Sam (Taissa Farmiga) and 13-year-old Emily (Georgia Rock).

The others are Chloe (Claire Julien), ringleader Rebecca (Katie Chang) and the only boy, (Israel Broussard) who seems to know about the in and outs of the fashion world than the girls. The script is rather thin and originated after a Vanity Fair article The Suspects Wore Louboutins. The robust soundtrack features Azealia Banks and M.I.A., and provides a roaring motor for the narrative which despite some needless repetition of the misdeeds doesn’t overstay its welcome.