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Bling Ring, The

3/10

Stars: Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson, Leslie Mann, Taissa Farmiga, Claire Julien, Georgia Rock, Nina Siemaszko, Paris Hilton, Kirsten Dunst

Director: Sofia Coppola

In 2008 and 2009 a group of bored, drug-fuelled Hollywood highschoolers, several girls and a lone boy (Broussard), broke into the palatial homes of such quasi-famous personalities as Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan and stole cash, jewellery and clothes. They also took credit cards from unlocked cars.

Actually 'broke in' is a bit strong, as the whole thing says very little for the victims' ideas of security.

Britain's Emma Watson gives perhaps the most striking performance here, catching exactly her character's shrill shallowness, but the film, like its characters, lacks substance and somehow only staggers to the 90-minute mark with the help of eight minutes' worth of very slow end credits.

Meanwhile, we see the teenagers squealing with glee as they view, and appropriate the C-list celebrities' glitzy array of possessions - and that's about the whole deal. Under the circumstances, the prison sentences doled out at the end seem pretty light. Directed by Coppola with a mind-numbing lack of variation, it's shiny, nail-varnish brittle, and empty.

David Quinlan

USA 2013. UK Distributor: StudioCanal. Colour (unspecified).
90 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 2, Swearing 2.

Review date: 30 Jun 2013