The movie was so focused on portraying how fake and superficial the individuals who live in this upper-class, American West Coast culture are, that it failed to show their humanity entirely.
The mother’s character was the most poorly portrayed by Sophia Coppola. She failed to capture the intensity of the mother and the mother’s strange relationship with her daughters. The daughters really have a close connection with their mother, however weird, and actually believe in the “And So It Is” thing they say. Alex Nyers wasn’t lying when she said those quotes repeated by Emma Watson in the Vogue Interview; this girl truly believes what she’s saying. I think Emma Watson did an OK job acting considering the horrendous script she had to work with but unfortunately, I can’t get on her side. I don’t believe in the sisterhood between the two older girls in the movie… These girls are best friends and also fiercely competitive but none of that came through.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have expected the movie to focus so much on the 2 sisters but I’m disappointed that this story wasn’t told.
In order for me to feel and understand the pull of having nice things, wealth and fame, I needed to be seduced by the ringmaster of the group. I wasn’t, unfortunately. She was vapid and boring and I believe there’s more to the real person than that.
It’s easy to write these girls off as rich, entitled, materialistic little bitches but what about exploring the pull of celebrity culture? Fame and wealth and beauty entices everyone to an extent. When it’s so close that all you have to do is take a deep breath and push open a door to get it, what can ever limit you? I wanted to see these boundaries explored and real emotions about right, wrong and the ability to disregard common sense in search of adrenaline and wealth.
Instead the movie offers us all the material things but none of the acting to make it real.
I understand the challenge- how do you tell a story that everyone knows the ending to? Well, it’s not about the ending in that case, it’s about the relationships, the betrayal, the friendship and the reputation these individuals got in their circle of friends for stealing from celebrities. Alas, the trailer shows all the best parts of the movie. There’s also a car accident and little exploration of it’s consequences except for a laughed off “I was off the charts, they didn’t even know how I was driving.” Consequences may be a foreign thing to these kids, but I need the movie to explore why and how that is.
Skip this movie and watch “Pretty Wild” on Netflix. It’s the real thing and it’s better than the movie.
Hula Hooping Hannah 