“Stealing from the Rich and Famous”

“Hotshots” looks at a movie!

The Bling Ring is based on actual events, was directed very nicely by Sofia Coppola, and serves as a many-layered warning to perpetrators, victims, fans, and viewers alike.

Heck, it should also serve as a warning to the police:  Appearing in a movie about an actual case you were involved in can hurt not only your career, but also the prosecution of the case itself.

The story is about a group of teenagers who blatantly broke into the homes of Hollywood celebrities and stole whatever they wanted, clothing, jewelry, makeup, and any drugs they could find.

Or, as one of them says as they are about to ransack a home, “Let’s go shopping.”

We meet Marc on his first day at a new school that is for troubled teenagers, he is lonely, he has no friends, and he meets Rebecca when she shows him some kindness and attention.

Rebecca introduces Marc to checking parked cars to see if they are unlocked and taking anything they can from inside them.

One day Rebecca gives Marc a ride after school and asks him if he knows about any families who are out of town.  He does, they go to that house, and Rebecca introduces Marc to finding a way inside and stealing items from the house.

When they see on the news that Paris Hilton is hosting a party in Las Vegas, it is easy enough to use the Internet to learn where Paris lives, easy enough to find the key to the front door underneath the welcome mat, and easy enough to be bedazzled by everything that Paris owns and puts on display, again taking whatever they want.

Incidentally, Paris allowed the filmmakers to use her house for filming all the scenes there, and we can also assume that all the clothing and jewelry are hers, too.

The victims have no shame, either.

And then everything gets out of hand.  Friends of theirs at school want in on the action.  Everyone is obsessed with taking “selfies” of themselves in their stolen swag and posting them on the Internet, but when some of the celebrities’ homes have security cameras, you can guess the rest even if you don’t know what actually happened.

The Bling Ring shows just one of the downsides to our obsession with the lives of the glitterati.

I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”