Movie Review: “Confessions of a Shopaholic”
Saturday, February 14, 2009 at 12:47PM | By Franck Tabouring 
Seen on: February 13, 2009
The players: Director: P.J. Hogan, Writers: Kayla Alpert, Tracey Jackson, Tim Firth, Cast: Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Joan Cusack, John Goodman, John Lithgow
Facts of interest: Based on the novels by Sophie Kinsella.
The plot: Rebecca Bloomwood has plenty of debt, and she needs to do something about it. Her first step: pad her resume and apply for a job at a popular fashion magazine.
Our thoughts: In “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” Isla Fisher plays Rebecca Bloomwood, an attractive, energetic New York City shopaholic who’s drowning in credit card debt and really struggles to turn her life around. But here’s Rebecca’s biggest problem: she’s quite simply not funny enough.
At least for my taste, she’s not, and that plays a major role in the movie’s desperate attempt to be hilarious. Most of the jokes simply don’t fly in the big-screen adaptation of Sophie Kinsella’s popular books, and the cast’s continuous efforts to try and force the gags to work mostly remain unsuccessful.
The weak screenplay is undoubtedly the source of the film’s major flaws. The main story line bored me more than it amused me, and what annoyed me the most were the unrealistic, hysterical characters, which scream and jump around like those kids on the Disney channel. Especially Rebecca and her roommate Suze act way too goofy most of the time.
I’ve never read the books and can’t compare the movie to its source material, but my girlfriend read them all and told me she liked the books a lot more than the adaptation. From what I’ve heard they ended up combining a few books into one screenplay, and I guess that’s one of the reasons the plot feels so overloaded and rushed.
On a similar note, the script lacks innovation. “Shopaholic” doesn’t bring anything new to the genre, sticking instead to the old (and tedious) formula of a troubled girl who tries to get out of her mess and falls in love along the way. Heck, even the film’s warning that credit cards are evil isn’t news anymore.
Fisher is a fabulous actress who gained an enormous amount of popularity after her memorable performance in “Wedding Crashers,” and I'm glad she finally scored a title role. She’s undoubtedly the film’s best asset, but she still doesn't really get a chance to show off her talent. I don't blame this on her though, because in the end, there is only so much you can do with a weak character.
Freaky quote: “I'm turning my life around." – Isla Fisher
The final word: No, I didn’t enjoy watching this film as much as I thought I would. Sadly, what we have going on here is a traditional “great trailer – bad movie” situation, in which the preview promises a fun experience but the actual film turns out to be quite messy and completely unoriginal.
When you walk or drive past the movie theater this weekend, ask yourself: do I really need to spend money on something I’ve already seen many times before?
Article by Franck Tabouring
Reader Comments (5)
I have read this series, and I have to say the books were so hilarious and entertaining. I laughed I cried, and I down right sloved every moment I spent with them. I looked forward to rushing home to read them and was soooooooo dissapointed when I watched the movie. I expected a wonderful movie and it was nothing like the book. It meshed a few books into one, and had the story line all wrong. For these books to be given justice on the big screen they each needed to be done sperately and more of the original material shoudl have been left in. Even the characters were poorly portrayed. Suze and Rebecca are just not that dumb in the book, and Luke Brandon is so much sexier and manly in the book. I just do not understnad how Sophie Kinsella could have let her story line and characters be butchered like this. SAD...very very SAD!!!
Isla Fisher was perfectly cast in this movie. She is both funny & lovable.
This film was one of the best movies I had ever seen in my whole life. I am a shopaholic too, and fashion is my passion. I feel the same way as Becky, Isla, feels in the movie...my heart melts like a toasted bread when I see a store.
The movie was quite hilarious.However near the climax, it becomes boring...You may take your kids to watch this movie together.if I were asked then I would rate it 6/10.
For girls night out, a few of my girlfriends and I went to see Confessions of a Shopiholic. We chose this movie because the previews made it seem like a funny approach to everyday problems we could relate to. Personnaly, I enjoyed the flick. But the genre seemed to be more fanasty then realistic fiction. In the midst of a reccesion, I think everyone in the audience found it hard to connect to the plot. Also, I anticipated it to demonstrate more humor than it did. The few funny parts were funny-but there weren't enough of them. I find this to be rare in most movies, but the climax was the worst part. There were certain scenes and lines that had me giggling, however. Lucky for us, my friends and I had the theater to ourselves so we talked through it, making comments and jokes. Though I have some negative thoughts about the movie, I think "Confessions of a Shopiholic" is a great sleepover movie. It won't have you at the edge of your seat, but if you give it a chance it has the potentail to be fun.