Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Real Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist’ On Netflix, A Docuseries Told From The Perspective Of Two People Who Robbed Celebrities’ Houses

The Real Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist is a three-part docuseries that talks to two members of the notorious Bling Ring, which burglarized celebrity homes in Calabasas, California in 2008 and 2009. At least one of the victims, Audrina Patridge, is interviewed for the series, but the ring victimized a number of other celebrities, including Orlando Bloom, Lindsay Lohan, and Rachel Bilson. 

THE REAL BLING RING: HOLLYWOOD HEIST: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: After a disclaimer about the series containing reenactments based on court records, police reports and “conflicting firsthand accounts,” we hear from Nick Purgo and Alexis Neiers about the day they were arrested.

The Gist: Purgo and Neiers were part of the “Bling Ring,” a group of teens and young adults that robbed the houses of several celebrities in Calabasas, California in 2008 and 2009. They’re the central figures of The Real Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist, a three-part docuseries that tells their sides of the story, how it seemed like these two bored teens from the celebrity-laden town in the San Fernando Valley managed to be part of a ring that stole millions of dollars of property and cash from the homes of Paris Hilton, Audrina Patridge, Orlando Bloom, Lindsay Lohan and others.

The first episode has Purgo and Neiers talk about their upbringings; Neiers and her sister Gabby moved around with their mother, Andrea Arlington-Dunne, many times after she divorced their father, and Andrea spent a lot of money on devices to keep her looking good for her modeling career. Purgo and his family moved to Calabasas and he felt isolated because he was firmly middle class in a largely wealthy community full of celebrity homes.

When Purgo met Rachel Lee in high school, he claimed that she got the idea to do things like open unlocked luxury cars parked on the street and steal cash and other valuables. That ramped up to stealing a car when the key was inside. It fueled a clubbing, lavish lifestyle. So when they needed more cash, during an era where people like Hilton and others were very open about where they lived and what they did on early social media, they set out to burglarize houses, starting with an old friend of Purgo’s. But then they hit Hilton’s house, which was not hard to find and surprisingly accessible (i.e. unlocked).

Then, Nick and Alexis meet, and Alexis becomes part of the ring, at least for one of the robberies.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? It’s interesting how The Real Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist comes almost a decade after The Bling Ring, the fictionalized version of this case that starred Emma Watson. They even use scenes from the movie — shot inside Paris Hilton’s house! — to illustrate what Nick and Rachel saw when they first entered Paris’ house with the intention to steal stuff.

Our Take: There’s something alarming about this series, directed by Miles Blayden-Ryall. It could be that it feels like two people telling the tale of their robbery adventures like they were looking back at a particularly booze-filled frat party or some other indiscretion of youth. It almost feels like Blayden-Ryall is glorifying Purgo and Neiers’ participation in this burglary ring, and watching them talk about it with such glee left a bad taste in our mouths.

Purgo seems particularly unrepentant about the robberies, essentially chalking them up to the celebrity culture of the ’00s and Hilton’s general casualness (i.e. stupidity) about protecting her property. It wasn’t a victimless crime; as much as people may not feel sorry for her, Hilton and the other celebs were victims, and by the time the Bling Ring was caught, the robberies were getting into the six and seven figures.

The first episode treats Purgo and Neiers like they were simply bored millennials who robbed celebrities to fuel their partying habits, and somehow that doesn’t make it OK, but makes it seem not that bad. Yes, they’ve all been convicted and done their time, but it just doesn’t feel like there’s any gravity to the fact that these people broke into homes and stole expensive items that didn’t belong to them.

Where things may improve is if there’s some conflict among the members of the Bling Ring as the stakes rise and law enforcement closes in. It’s telling that Lee and other members of the ring refused to talk to Blayden-Ryall, and it’s also telling how there’s a disclaimer about “conflicting firsthand accounts.” The story about the Bling Ring would be in how they each thought of their role within the group, who they each thought was the ringleader, etc. If it’s just about idiot teenagers robbing celebrities that don’t seem to know how to lock their front doors, then it will be an awfully dull three-part series.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: After hiring someone to clean out Hilton’s jewelry, the group decides to hit another celebrity house, and we see footage of people sneaking into Audrina Patridge’s house, with a news anchor’s voice describing the video.

Sleeper Star: We’ll give this to Alexis’ mother Andrea, who shows her vision board. Yes, she had a vision board, as she belonged to a church who very much believed in the tenants in the book The Secret.

Most Pilot-y Line: After Purgo claims he and Lee stole “Paris Hilton’s coke” and said it was some of the best coke he ever had, there’s a disclaimer at the end of the episode that states, “A representative of Paris Hilton has denied that illicit drugs were found at her home.” Uh, ok….

Our Call: SKIP IT. The Real Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist feels like it glorifies the Bling Ring participants — at least the ones who agreed to be interviewed — and victim-blames the celebrities that got burglarized, which makes the series’ perspective really tough to swallow.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.