Born Rich
You know you
hate them. They're young, attractive and they never have to work a day in
their lives. But the lives of the children of multi-millionaires can't
be that easy can it? It's not all parties with Paris and Nicky,
summers in the Hamptons or the Mediterranean, cotillions, jetting off to exotic
locales and spending daddy's cash, is it?
Surprisingly and happily,
this documentary shows that it really isn't. We get to spend a little
time with the heirs and heiresses of some of the greatest family fortunes in
the world. There is Josiah Hornblower (from the Vanderbilt lineage),
media heirs S.I. Newhouse IV and Georgina Bloomberg, Ivanka Trump, the
daughter of real estate mogul and reality show host Donald, gambling sire
Luke Weil, banking daughter Stephanie Ercklentz, textile heir Cody
Franchetti, grocery store daughter Juliet Hartford, European royal Carlo von
Zeischel and Christina Floyd, daughter of golfer Raymond Floyd. While all of them
still have it way easier than you or I, at least you get an insight into
what their lives are like.
The film was directed by Jamie Johnson, who is
also one of the trust fund babies. (He's a grandson of the Johnson &
Johnson fortune.) Because of this, Johnson does get incredible access
to these kids, for better and for worse. Honestly, he isn't a
spectacular filmmaker, and Johnson is also the one rich child who seems most
uncomfortable in front of the camera, which is a bit of a problem since
is the narrator of the film. Conversations between Johnson and his father
seem particularly forced, like they both are giving rehearsed speeches that
they can't quite remember. However, Johnson has come up with a
fascinating premise and despite a few technical gaffes it is very much worth
seeing.
The other heirs come off seeming either
well-adjusted and normal (Josiah Hornblower, S.I. Newhouse IV and Ivanka Trump
all seem like
complicated people with their heads basically on straight) or somewhat
shallow and superficial (Cody Franchetti, Carlo von Zeitschel and Christina
Floyd). Many, like Luke Weil and Stephanie Ercklentz, seem an
interesting mix of both. Most of them do love their affluence, but
they also feel it is something of a curse. As one points out, the
American dream is to do better than your parents, but since they don't have
that goal, they are sort of on the outside looking in.
Whether you buy into that
will pretty much decide what you think of this film. In the long run,
whether they are smart and interesting or spoiled and vapid, they are just
kids. Kids who have many of the same problems as you and I, and who
don't have many of the others. To paraphrase Ernest Hemingway,
of course the rich are
different than you and me. They have more money.
(10/04)
Alex Diamond
Copyright ©2004 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved.
Posted: October 6, 2004.
