We liked a lot this parents' nightmare of a movie, in which San Fernando Valley teens steal clothes, jewelry, and cash from celebrities' homes. Based on a true story written by Nancy Jo Sales and published in Vanity Fair about real kids in 2008-09, this is directed and written by Sofia Coppola, was nominated for Un Certain Regard at Cannes last year, and has won one award so far for Coppola, who shows us here yet another side of Hollywood than she did in Somewhere. All the actors are totally believable as fame-obsessed kids in various stages of criminality. Katie Chang and Israel Broussard are new to me but good as the ringleader and her follower, as is Claire Julien (she happens to be the daughter of Cinematographer Wally Pfister who was Oscar-nominated for Batman Begins (2005), The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight, and won for Inception). David Denby in his New Yorker review commented on how completely Emma Watson (last blogged in The Perks of Being a Wallflower) inhabits the role of a privileged valley girl. The fifth member of the ring looked familiar and then I saw her name is Taissa Farmiga. She is the 21-years-younger sister of Vera Farmiga and, in fact, looks exactly like her and was in Vera's Higher Ground. Leslie Mann (last blogged in This Is 40) has a cameo as the mom of Watson and Farmiga who home schools them based on the principles of The Secret. We laughed during those and many other scenes; not because they are played for laughs but because they are preposterous.
As usual Coppola has assembled a kick-ass soundtrack of popular and interesting music, listed on imdb here. Clips are available on the amazon page and nine whole songs on youtube.
It might be interesting to see the 2011 TV movie, but do see this one. You don't need a big screen, though. The DVD is scheduled for November of this year. Slaves to reviews (you know who you are) will want to use rottentomatoes' 61/47 as justification for skipping it. The rest of us will enjoy it just fine without you.
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