The Hollywood movie that told this story back in 2013, to mixed reviews. Now the real people, some of them, are speaking on camera for themselves. They say the movie was inaccurate, but then again they also accuse each other of lying.
The Real Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist gathers not only the thieves, but also the cops, the CCTV footage and at least one celebrity victim. True Crime fans will dig it.
I guess the story is pretty well known to many people already, but this new three-part docu-series is the first time some of the participants have given thorough timelines, motives and methods.
Firstly, the people who broke into the homes of Paris Hilton and Orlando Bloom, among others, weren’t hardened criminals – they were teenagers and one early 20s. They were a sad product of the Valley – not dirt poor, but not as rich and glamorous as the kids who live on the other side of that little mountain.
Call it a self-induced version of peer pressure. They wanted to be cool and awesomely dressed. They wanted to show off and pretend to be the people they wished they really were.
Nick Prugo does most of the talking here, he and co-leader, Rachel Lee, were problem kids in high school who bonded over superficial things. Best I leave to Nick to tell how they found the celebs’ houses, but I can’t resist mentioning that the houses were easy to access. I’m talking unlocked doors and windows.
And what did they do with the hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of designer clothes they stole? They wore them. They were photographed in them. The photos they took of the closets they raided are ridiculous. So many clothes.
Oh and always lots of cash lying around. Literally just scattered about.
It’s really hard to find anyone in this series to like; Prugo, Alexis Neiers don’t exactly give you the warm fuzzies, and stage mom Andrea Arlington, who claimed ignorance of what her daughters were into, is the least likable of them all. Oh, she got a reality show with her daughters on E!, so I guess we see where the kids got their starry ambitions.
Just the one cool cop, who is as telegenic as anyone else ( do all Los Angelinos look like stars?) gives us an anchor – a relatable guy. But I don’t watch True Crime stories to fall in love with the criminals. I watch to see them get caught.
And they do get caught.
The Real Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist is currently streaming on Netflix.