The Bling Ring Apr 2026

You’ll walk away disgusted by the teens, disturbed by celebrity worship, and oddly desperate to organize your own closet.

The film’s biggest weakness is its own aesthetic. Coppola’s signature style—soft lighting, slow zooms, a soundtrack of thumping club music—is gorgeous, but it keeps the audience at arm’s length. We never get inside these kids’ heads. Are they sociopaths? Victims of neglect? Addicted to dopamine hits from Instagram likes? The film raises these questions but refuses to answer them, preferring to float above the action like a bored ghost.

Coppola films the robberies with a strange, hypnotic rhythm. The teens crawl through doggy doors, rifle through jewelry boxes, and pose for selfies in their victims’ mirrors. The most famous scene has Emma Watson’s Nikki—a hilariously deadpan Valley girl—trying on Lindsay Lohan’s dresses and whispering, “I feel like we’re just, like, living in a dream world.” The Bling Ring

If you like Sofia Coppola’s detached, mood-driven style ( Marie Antoinette , Somewhere ), you’ll appreciate this. If you need characters to root for or a clear moral, look elsewhere.

The rest of the young cast (Katie Chang as the ringleader Rebecca, Taissa Farmiga as the fragile Sam) are appropriately vacant. You won’t root for them. You’ll just watch them spiral. You’ll walk away disgusted by the teens, disturbed

On its surface, The Bling Ring sounds like a wild, juicy heist movie. Based on a true story, it follows a group of fame-obsessed Los Angeles teenagers who robbed the homes of Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom, and other celebrities, stealing over $3 million in cash and designer goods.

Also, the second half drags once the police get involved. The courtroom scenes feel rushed and oddly comedic, as if Coppola lost interest the moment the stealing stopped. We never get inside these kids’ heads

Yes, that Emma Watson. Fresh off Harry Potter , she delivers her most divisive performance as Nicki, a vapid, aspiring reality star who speaks in self-help platitudes ( “I want to live in the now, and be, like, totally mindful.” ). Her American accent wobbles, her posture is rigid, and her lines are delivered with a bizarre, staccato rhythm. Is it bad acting? Or brilliant parody of a girl who has no inner life? I lean toward the latter. Watson is genuinely hilarious and frightening in her shallowness.