Confessions of a Shopaholic

It’s a movie that feels like it was taken directly from the 1950’s, and not in a good way.

Isla Fisher stars as Rebecca Bloomwood – a hardcore shopaholic. Like a drinker craves vodka, she craves the excitement of being in the store, the hunt for the perfect new scarf and the thrill of watching her credit card slide through the machine. While her debt has been mounting into the tens of thousands, it truly becomes a problem when Rebecca loses her job as a writer and reporter at Gardening Today. Sadly, while she has always dreamed of working for a glossy fashion mag, Alette, our hero has to settle writing for its sister publication, Successful Savings.

Can Rebecca give good advice about saving money when she is so horribly deep in debt?

Will she be exposed as a hypocrite?

I guess you can say director P.J. Hogan and his writing team (based on the novel by Sophie Kinsella) really love Lucy because they attempt to put Fisher through more pratfalls, uncomfortable social situations and misconceived schemes than Lucy and Ethel combined. Unfortunately, Fisher doesn’t have the same great material as Lucille Ball.

Rebecca should be a likable and relatable woman instead of the anachronistic cartoon character she becomes. No woman I know in 2009 acts or thinks like this on a consistent basis (sure, they have wonderful girly moments or days, but not entire lives). If Hogan and the gang kept the mood consistent and let Fisher go kooky all throughout the movie, or gave us some sort of sense that she has more of a brain than what is on display, it might make more sense and make for a better movie, but Confessions of a Shopaholic eventually goes for the cliché.

She falls for her hunky boss, Brandon (Hugh Dancy). She suffers during a massive conflict and falling out with the people most important to her. She has to come to grips with her obsessions and reform. Yet, Rebecca is so silly through most of the movie that these big plot twists towards the end that make her more dramatic are much too serious. The tone was so crazy at the beginning, it’s too much of a swing towards drama.

I cannot think of a strong enough penance to rectify these Confessions of a Shopaholic.

Confessions of a Shopaholic is rated PG for some mild language and thematic elements.