Confessions of a Shopaholic Movie Review

MOVIE REVIEW:
CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC

02/13/09

SYNOPSIS: In the glamorous world of New York City, Rebecca Bloomwood (ISLA FISHER) is a fun-loving girl who is really good at shopping—a little too good, perhaps. She dreams of working for her favorite fashion magazine, but can’t quite get her foot in the door—until ironically, she snags a job as an advice columnist for a financial magazine published by the same company. As her dreams are finally coming true, she goes to ever more hilarious and extreme efforts to keep her past from ruining her future. ISLA FISHER (“Wedding Crashers”) stars in the film from producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director P.J. Hogan (“My Best Friend’s Wedding”). The screenplay by Tracey Jackson and Tim Firth and Kayla Alpert is based on the books “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and “Shopaholic Takes Manhattan” by Sophie Kinsella.

REVIEW: It’s a modern age epidemic. It is a true psychological condition. For Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) it all started as a childhood trauma that she experienced while shopping with her frugal mother as she watched all the other ladies fulfill their dreams with the use of a magic card, no cash needed. The shopaholic monster in her was born. This movie was charming, cute, better than you might think, and more dramatic than you might think. It’s not just a comedy. But it is very funny chock full of embarrassing moments and comical situations. Unfortunately, I have not read the book so I honestly cannot compare it to the movie. If you know me or have read some of my reviews, you should not be surprised. I am a firm believer that a picture is worth a thousand words so I prefer to watch than to read. I have no idea if it does the book justice but I can tell you that I really had a lot of fun watching this movie. Granted, I have to admit that I am a little biased when it comes to Isla. She is irresistibly adorable and her performance in this movie strengthened that position. She really poured it on in this lead role and she did fabulous. She was funny but not necessarily over the top. She was dramatic but not over acting. She snags you on her line and reels you in. It will be difficult for her to top her popular breakout performance in Wedding Crashers, which is truly an instant classical cinematic performance, but this one comes in a close second. She brings a combination of let’s say a Carrie from Sex and the City with an Elle Woods from Legally Blonde placed in a Devil Wears Prada setting, ish. If you are not too fond of those kind of characters then you might be turned off by this movie. She is the hopeful underdog in a hopeless situation waiting for the big “hopportunity” to make it in one of the most difficult towns in which to do so, New York. If you watch the movie you’ll know what I mean by “hopportunity” (it’s a funny moment that stuck with me).

There were other actors in this film, I assure you. The male lead is played by Hugh Dancy, Rebecca’s boss Luke Brandon, and he is charming, English accent and all. Krysten Ritter as Becky’s best friend Suze is effective and compliments Isla well. Joan Cusack and John Goodman are the parents of said shopaholic and they are quite the opposite of shopaholics. Leslie Bibb plays Alicia Billington, the character that you will love to hate. And of course there is the eternally endearing Julie Hagerty who plays Hayley, a secretary, in her unique, quirky way. I will never forget her unforgettable role in Airplane. She is an unsung hero of comedy films.

The story is predictable and the content is not exactly fresh, but the shopaholic subject is well explored. Believe or not this movie does have an interesting use of special effects animation of which I don’t want to spoil for you but I’ll tell you that it’s very cool. Director P.J. Hogan (Muriel’s Wedding, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Peter Pan) has done some really good work and he delivers a fine piece here as well. This might be a chick flick, but guys, if you are a fan of Isla, you won’t mind going to see this flick.