The Bling Ring (2013), R, 2.5 stars

A group of girls being so glamorous.

Do you ever dream of stealing a valuable possession from a big-time superstar? Do you ever think of breaking into a massive home just to covet what you want? It seems like anybody this present day can get any valuable item with some evident DNA from a superstar and sell it on Ebay or whatever website you can publicly auction. Well, girls can plan a jewelry heist, but how far can they go to get away with it?

Marc Hall (Isabel Broussard) is a shy student who arrives at a new high school in California. She catches Rebecca Ahn's attention (Katie Chang), a girl who is really obsessed with fame and fabulous accessories. Marc's invited to Rebecca's house to party and while outside, the pair break into unlocked vehicles and steal cash and credit cards. While they both have lots of stolen cash, they use it as a shopping spree to go into a luxury lifestyle.

Marc goes into a nightclub with Rebecca where they meet Nicki (Emma Watson) and her adopted sister Sam (Taissa Farmiga), and Chloe (Claire Julien). They hang out with celebrities such as Paris Hilton. They all do a background check on Hilton and manage to steal valuable belongings from her home numerous times. After this begins to become successful, they want to steal from other superstars' homes, such as Audrina Patridge's and Orlando Bloom's.

Here's the problem. There's some footage capturing the robbery of one of their homes. Marc is worried about this evidence but Rebecca does not seem to bothered by the precarious proof. They keep continuing to do what they do and news media goes crazy while they label the mysterious group, "The Bling Ring".

Watson being interviewed by the media.

I'm surprised that Sofia Coppola, the director, has chosen to direct this movie. She has directed a few pretty good movies, Lost in Translation and Somewhere. I see that all of the filmmakers were having a fun time making this. But, they tease too much of the material. They do not really go into the depths of the consequences of why they wanted to steal besides fame. I felt that Coppola just presented a result that has scenes of stealing that goes on and on. Yet, it seems the movie presents more committed temptations to do something, but there are no moral lessons behind it.

Most of the characters I did not really care about because of their annoying cliched traits. But, the one performance I was really impressed by was Emma Watson's. Her character is so uncaring and insensitive that is supported by humor and wit. She proved that she can be more than just Hermione Granger. I think her character really provides the narcissistic view of what California can be.

The set up of the movie was pretty sensational at the beginning. But, they get to carried away with the style of the picture by setting up again one robbery after another. In the aftermath of the robberies, it turns into a shouting match between characters and they are tiring. It seems like an hour version of The Blame Game. The movie is shot beautifully and there was some flair in the material itself, but the progress of the story and characters seem to get uninteresting. Therefore, the ending is a little predictable but with an epilogue of a character's journey that was a little refreshing.

**1/2