Confessions of a Shopaholic

Watching on Wednesday: Confessions of a Shopaholic

Title: Confessions of a Shopaholic
Type: Movie
Age Group: Teens +
Release Year: 2009
My Rating: 4/5

When she was young, Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) never had the pretty clothes that kids her age had. So she grew up obsessing over every single designer piece she comes across and buying them all before you can say, "Shopping".

In hoping to land a job at her favourite fashion magazine, Alette, Rebecca finds out that the available position is already filled. The male receptionist advises that she should try at another magazine owned by the corporation; then she can work her way up to Alette.

What is the magazine? It is called Successful Saving.  Rebecca? Saving money? Hah!

From the bestselling series by Sophie Kinsella, Confessions of a Shopaholic is quirky, fun, and full of designer labels that many females can watch and relate to!

Rebecca is amusing but also can be annoying at the same time. Sometimes, her actions are most odd, making you wonder what kind of environment she grew up in. Her love for shopping is so immense that it is simply insane!  I think I would lose my head if I was to live with her. She racks up a huge debt and as she tries to push them all away, they come back to haunt her a hundred times over! From being an impulsive buyer, Rebecca learns that life is not so forgiving when you lie. One thing led to the next and she digs a hole way too deep for herself before she realizes it.

I wondered what she was going to do to pull herself out of her troubles. I was a little surprised but wasn't at the same time when the conclusion came around. I liked the ending and Rebecca grew up so much by then. I was entertained on the long run and will re-watch it again someday.

Overall, Confessions of a Shopaholic is a great movie to watch with your girlfriends and pass time with. (If not, at least watch it if you are a Hugh Dancy fan). And of course, teaches you that buying all those latest shoes and shirts might not be a great idea...

Last updated: 2010-04-09 08:16:05 by user01

Top 5 Reasons Why You Should See “Confessions of Shopaholic”

Walking into the theatre as a Shopaholic “virgin” I had little knowledge of what to expect or what I was getting myself into. While thoughts of shoes and boys ran through my head, I had no firm concept of what the plot was actually about.

Though my slightly warn Wal-Mart boots were not blown completely off of my feet, it was entertaining enough to keep me awake for a couple of hours (I admit I’ve fallen asleep at a movie or two).

Whether you love the books (I’ve personally never read them) or you’re new to the “Shopaholic” world, here are a few reasons why you SHOULD see the movie, if only for a short break from real life!

1) Isla Fisher is super cute and equally as funny! Though she does not have the poise of Dame Judy Dench, or the star quality of Reese Witherspoon, she can certainly hold her own on screen. Knowing how to properly balance comedic dialogue with witty presence and charm, Fisher turned the character of Rebecca Bloomwood into someone that you wanted to love, no matter what situation she got herself into.

2) Though many of the characters were, at best, a notch or two above completely shallow, there were a few saving graces, including the witty dialogue. While it didn’t contain the fluid prose of Shakespeare in Love or the confident banter of a Woody Allen screenplay, writers Tracey Jackson, Tim Firth, and Kayla Alpert brought to the movie a certain flair and one-off lines that you’ll remember as the credits roll.

3) The clothes!!! If you are at all aware of fashion, know where New York is on a map, or just put on pants in the morning, you will be able to appreciate the beautiful array of fashion seen and worn throughout the duration of the movie. Though Rebecca Bloomwood, in my opinion, needed a lesson in color matching, getting a glimpse of her extensive closet could make even shopping haters like myself swoon!

4) Though I don’t buy into the whole genre of “chick-lit”, I think writers like Sophie Kinsella will inspire many women with stories to tell to pick up a pen and get creative!

5) The ironic moral of the story being driven home during “harsh economic times” is reason enough to take notice. Obviously there are millions of people who overspend and underpay, this isn’t news. While we’re all tired of hearing about how the world is going down the tubes financially, this movie highlights our society’s ruin in a way that makes us laugh.

From begning to end Confessions of a Shopaholic by Director P.J. Hogan (My Best Friend’s Wedding) was laced with humor that even made my skeptic husband chuckle (though if you ask him he was asleep the entire time!). With quirky dialogue, strategically placed slap stick comedy, and well written narration, I would rank this movie high up on the “every girl should see once list”. Okay, maybe I’ll watch it twice!

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Recommendations: Wizard of Oz

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Chick flicks have to be, by far, the worst movie genre ever invented. (This does not include "Mean Girls,"which is the best chick flick ever created.) "Confessions of a Shopaholic" only proves that the funniest part in a chick flick is the gay friend, and his part isn't nearly long enough to save "Confessions" from being one of the worst movies I've seen this year. Seriously, I'd rather watch "Transformers 2" again.

Here's how the ridiculously predictable plot unfolds. Girl has problem, thinks solution to problem is "X." Meets devishly handsome guy, although different at first, find stuff in common, fall in love. Girl's problem is exposed, guy feels betrayed, leaves, girl goes to sulk, discovers the solution is really "Y" instead of "X." Guy sees how much girl has changed, initiates new relationship. They live happily ever after. The End.

Well, that wasn't every romantic comedy/chickflick plot ever made. I am so glad I just watched such an interesting movie with no cliches whatsoever.

Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) is a redhead recently-graduated-from-college bimbo, working at some crappy magazine reviewing like yardwork stores and stuff. I wasn't paying very much attention. Rebecca likes to shop, a lot. Although half the time she looks like big bird ran through the painting section of Lowes. I almost got my shades - the colors were way too bright for my eyes. Anyhoo, Rebecca really, really wants a job at Allete magazine (think Vogue). On her way there she decides she really needs a green scarf to go with her outfit (crazy right? but it's exactly the thing that could make this interview go well, omg!). But all her credit cards are declined so she starts asking people for money to buy her ailing grandmother a new scarf. Some nice guy gives it to her and she runs off to get a new job. Here's where the gay guy comes in, and the only part where I laughed comes in. The gay security guard informs Rebecca that Allete already gave away the job she wanted but if she applied at another magazine in the building she could work her way up, because thats how the building works obviously. She tries for it and finds that the guy who gave her money is the employer who would hire her for some stupid financial magazine.

Here's where the plot gets so stupid that it makes me angry. Obviously she doesn't get a job so she goes home and gets drunk with her best friend (the stupidest loudest person in the movie) and decides to write letters to both Allete and the magazine the handsome guy turned her away from. The Allete letter is a good letter about clothing and stuff...whatever. The other letter is a hate letter because the guy turned away her fake resume blah blah you don't know who I am blah blah girl power. But because she's drunk she mixes up the letters and sends the wrong one to each. The stupid handsome guy gets her letter and thinks it has to do with finance and gives her a job.

Gah! I just wanted to throw my TV out of the room. If she was drunk how in the world was she able to write a legible letter? She and her roommate had like 18 tequila shots in an hour. And what magazine in their right mind would hire someone to explain financial terms with fashion? "Buying a time share is like buying a tiny bikini, if its warm out, it's great and everyone thinks your hot, but if it's cold out, it's not so comfortable anymore and you'll have to put on something different." Wow, thanks! Now I understand time shares. Girl fashion can really help us get through this recession, everybody.

NO IT EFFING CAN'T! This movie is awful, really it is. Please don't watch it. Give the gay guy ten more lines of dialogue and I would tell you to watch it, but he has like 3 lines. This movie is terrible in every way conceivable. Don't let its bright colors attract you.

Grade: D-, I didn't give it an F because John Goodman is in it and the gay guy made me laugh.

Last updated: 2010-03-02 09:10:53 by JoeandChrisO

Confessions of a Shopaholic

The first thing I did after seeing this movie was look up how many r's there are in the word "horrific."

Two. There are two r's in "horrific."

The most immediately fatal flaw in "Shopaholic" is our total lack of sympathy with Isla Fisher's main character, Rebecca Bloomwood. She is a pampered, frivolous creampuff of a person whose only defining characteristic -- heck, let's say that again -- whose only defining characteristic is a propensity for shopping at high-end fashion outlets.

Consider that. It's not even the clothes that she loves. It's not fashion. It's shopping. 

(I know, I know, it's called Confessions of a SHOPAHOLIC. But can't it be a warm human being we come to know and like, who happens to be a shopaholic, instead of a hateful buffoon jabbering excitedly in every scene?)

By the ten minute mark I was begging for this movie to turn out to be the Friday the 13th remake opening the same weekend. If Jason had appeared in Rebecca Bloomwood's bedroom with a hand-axe, I would have leapt up cheering.

Didn't happen.

Instead, Rebecca Bloomwood takes a job at a magazine called Money Savers, a frugal living guide. There she writes an eight paragraph article about the evils of store cards, which vaults her to worldwide fame.

You think I'm kidding.

This is one of those movies where real-world logic goes kablooey in order to quickly and easily satisfy the demands of plot. In Rebecca's case, the writers were determined that her shopaholicism would turn itself into a virtue at Money Savers, because she knows the dangers of excessive spending better than anyone.

They accomplish this by showing Rebecca at a keyboard typing. Then they show her turn the article in to her boss. Then every character we meet over the next ninety minutes fawns over the article, as well as every successive article she writes. Unfortunately, we never get to read the articles. We don't really know what's in them. And even if it were the best prose since Dickens, it's still just writing an article, which -- in the larger-than-life world of movies, anyway -- is not a huge accomplishment. Yet it opens practically every single door that can be opened to a person the rest of the movie.

This presents a huge problem. Movies exist to make life tough on main characters, but "Shopaholic" is relentlessly generous to Rebecca, giving her lucky breaks and warm receptions wherever she goes. This undeserved good fortune greatly exacerbates the sympathy problem. We turn on people who are luckier than we are. Our hearts go out to those who are unluckier. The hardest lesson a writer learns is to never -- ever -- give your hero a lucky break. Your villain? Sure. Never your hero.

Plunging us further into lunacy is the fact that Rebecca Wormblood, or whatever her name is, comes off like a functional illiterate. She's a total ignoramus in every way, but we're expected to believe she's a brilliant writer. Since the entire plot hinges on this fact, it's hard to shrug off.

As if sensing that the overall story is crap, each scene tries really hard to be as outrageously funny as it can be. Consequently, every line is spoken in a "funny" tone of voice, followed quickly by a clever wink. As always, this comes at the expense of character and authenticity, which reduces any future chance of getting a laugh, so those scenes have to work harder still, and the vicious cycle feeds and feeds.

Lots of people are going to see this movie hoping for an experience similar to "The Devil Wears Prada." Those people are sad fools in for a crushing disappointment.

Remember the first scene in "Prada" when Anne Hathaway was getting dressed for her interview, and she threw on jeans and an old sweater, whereas all her fellow interviewees were pulling on tight, chic couture and plucking their eyebrows? We immediately fell for Hathaway's character. We're all sweater-and-jeans girls inside. And when Hathaway stuck up for herself in scene two despite being terrified of Streep's Anna Wintour, we were sold on the character.

"Shopaholic" is like following around one of those competitors for Hathaway's job that we hated.

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CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC (2009)

BOTTOM LINE: Despite being well shot and starring a very strong supporting cast, “Confessions of a Shopaholic” is inconsistent in tone and let down by its lead Isla Fisher who cannot hope to carry a film on the basis of the semi-crazy performances she has become known for.

THE GOOD: Any one who has an interest in fashion or knows the adulation and pitfalls of going on shopping sprees with credit cards are likely to enjoy this movie simply on these terms. The madness that envelopes the lead character of Rebecca Bloomfield (Isla Fisher) whenever she enters a brand-named clothing or shoe store will surely appeal to a certain demographic obsessed with these things. In some ways, the film has much in common with The Devil Wears Pradaand the Sex & The City movie but taking the fashion and shopping aspects to the nth degree. Shopaholic Rebecca has maxed out all her credit cards and is $16000 in debt. The magazine she works for goes in to liquidation and she is forced to put her dream of working at a top fashion magazine in to action. She unintentionally gets a job at a finance magazine when her application gets sent there by mistake, and she proceeds to become a highly successful, but anonymous finance writer who gives tips to her readers on how to save money (the irony is about as subtle as a sledge hammer). Eventually she is discovered to be a hypocrite in the sense she has mountains of debt that is painfully put on show on national television when a debt collector in the audience exposes her. Director P.J. Hogan has managed to make the film look top notch with New York never looking better. The supporting cast are very strong across the board with some well known actors lending their credence to the piece and giving some decent light-hearted moments. Overall the film pushes all the right buttons in terms of fashion and brand name shopping.

THE BAD: The film is a mess from a tone perspective. In the broadest possible sense, the film is following the “troubled-girl-with-a-good-heart-does-right-in-the-end” formula but has trouble extracting any empathy for that girl thanks largely to the way the character is played by Isla Fisher. This may not necessarily be all her fault as it seems clear that the studio who backed the film and its makers have constructed the film around Fisher’s ability to act crazy (ala “Wedding Crashers”) but it never gels properly. Rebecca is completely irresponsible, lies her way out of her obligations to herself, family and friends to get herself ahead, and somehow we are meant to feel good about her plight because she does the right thing in the end. Combine this with some awkward slapstick and Fisher’s attempts to mangle her face in to bizarre shapes in an attempt to look funny and the whole exercise becomes downright awful to watch. Her high-pitched American accent can at times sound like nails on a chalk board, and her youthful appearance makes her look like a teenager out of a soap opera rather than the lead in a big budget studio comedy. Isla Fisher has done better than this, and she seems to work well in supporting roles as part of an ensemble (Definitely, Maybe comes to mind). This film demonstrates that she may not be lead actress material. However, Director P.J. Hogan may be the more unfortunate person to come out of this film, showing a directorial ineptitude in translating this story to the screen with inconsistent tone, pacing and character. “Confessions of a Shopaholic” is a very strong high concept idea that has unfortunately not been translated well in to a full-length film.

RATING: 4/10

Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net