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       #Post#: 94--------------------------------------------------
       THE BLING RING (2013)
       By: agate Date: January 2, 2014, 11:35 pm
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       Based–perhaps loosely–on a real story, The Bling Ring presents a
       group of Southern California teenagers who aren’t from
       underprivileged backgrounds but who get their jollies from
       breaking into the houses of local celebrities (Lindsay Lohan,
       Paris Hilton, and others) to steal whatever appeals to
       them–designer clothes and shoes, Rolex watches, jewelry, rolls
       of bills. They make little effort at concealing their activity
       from their friends and in fact are so proud of it that they brag
       about it.
       They’re astonished and delighted that the celebrities’ houses
       are so accessible. All they have to do is use the Internet to
       track the plans of whatever celebrity they are targeting. With
       knowledge of when a person will be away, they feel confident
       that they can break in.
       It seems to me that they must have been taking a big risk here
       as many people have house-sitters, or an occasional neighbor
       dropping by to look in on a place in their absence–as well as
       elaborate surveillance systems.
       It was the surveillance systems that enabled them to be caught,
       but surprisingly they got away with quite a few of these
       burglaries.
       The teenagers seem to be enrolled in a correctional high school,
       but a couple of the girls are being home-schooled by one of the
       moms, who is indoctrinating them in the principles of “The
       Promise.” There isn’t much discipline in these kids’ lives, and
       through it all one has to ask if their parents are on another
       planet somewhere. The kids come and go, apparently at all hours,
       with free access to drugs–and just about anything else they
       want.
       This movie has some hilarious moments but underlying it is a
       very sad situation, a world where large segments of the society
       have been trained to think in terms of acquiring brighter and
       shinier new things at all times and at any cost.
       A scene where one of the girls starts playing around with a gun
       is a grim reminder that people who let their kids run amok often
       pay a very  high price.
       The song being played as the credits roll is entirely too
       preachy  and almost ruins the movie, in my opinion. And
       throughout the story I found it difficult to care about any of
       the characters. They are surrounded by heaps of glittering
       tchotchkes most of the time, and we never really get to know any
       of them except very superficially.
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