I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this movie. It was a good movie. The cast was excellent, the story compelling- even ridiculously so when you realized it was based off of events that actually happened in real life. Plus, as an added bonus, it was directed by Sofia Coppola, so the soundtrack was excellent. (I tried leaving Shazam on auto on my phone and captured all the songs. Which is a pretty neat feature, actually, though I wouldn't just leave it on all the time.) Yet despite that, I felt like there was something lacking in this movie- it seemed, shallow and even a little superficial at times. But given that that characters are all rich and entitled teens, I suppose that's sort of fitting, I guess.
When new kid Marc (Israel Broussard) rolls into town and ends up at Indian Hills High School in Calabasas he is soon befriended by fame loving Rebecca (Katie Chang.) While at a party, they check unlocked vehicles on the street, and, finding a few, take cash, credit cards and other valuables out of the cars. They soon graduate to checking out houses of rich acquaintances whom they know to be out of town and then they start breaking into the houses of various celebrities who are out of town as well.
Along the way they meet Rebecca's friends, Nicki (Emma Watson), her adopted sister Sam (Taissa Farmiga) and Chloe (Claire Julien) and soon the gang is breaking back into celebrity houses and stealing all kinds of fun stuff as they go. After a couple of trips to Paris Hilton's house, they follow that up with a break-in at Audrina Patridge's house, then Megan Fox's house (Nicki's younger sister squeezes in through a dog door to get them access.) Legolas (Orlando Bloom) is nexty- and they steal a whole box of his Rolexes and a fat wad of cash to go along with it. Then it's back to Paris Hilton (this time with Sam's boyfriend, Rob, along for the ride) and despite a news report with CCTV footage of them doing the deed at Audrina Patridge's house, they keep going and add Rachel Bilson's house and Lindsey Lohan's house to their list of conquest.
Then, Rebecca skips town. Well, she says she's moving to Vegas to live with her dad to avoid troubles at home, but really, she's skipping town and as the media scrutiny intensifies, teenagers do what teenagers always do in these situations: they talk, they get caught and they all get a variety of jail time for their troubles. The film ends with Nicki doing a media interview and urging fans to follow her website, in an attempt to cash in on her infamy.
Overall: Meh. Emma Watson was unrecognizable in this movie and was a pleasure to watch- the rest of the cast is young, energetic and up to the challenge. The cinematography is excellent, the soundtrack is amazing, but overall... meh. Good, but not great- though if you want a glimpse of one of the bandits in real life, this clip is pretty amusing and representative. I'd say ** 1/2 out of ****.
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