Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)

The first must-see film of the year.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I have just seen this movie a few days ago, but I had to turn it off at the half of the film... Howewer I like Isla Fisher, her character was incredibly annoying. Oh and the "unexpectable twists" in the movie... my god... she "accidentaly" found herself in a position, where she has to give financial advises, which is the opponent to her lifestyle and her first article was a big success, however she didn't know a single word according to that topic and when she slapped in the face that Finnish or Swedish (i don't really remember, some nordic national) guy, and "fortunately" it meant something good... Yes these cases were totally realistic, why not, they can happen in real life. So after those parts I turned the film off. Plus the main character was all the time giggling and cackling and overplayed her role such as her best friend. Needless to say, I don't recommend it.

Romantic comedies are really not my thing, but if they're well made they can be enjoyable enough fluff, certainly helpful when one is looking to pass some time. Unfortunately, I didn't find this enjoyable. Perhaps it was because I just didn't find it all that interesting. First, I've heard it said that one basic difference between men and women revolves around shopping. For men, shopping is a chore - get in the store and get what you want and leave; for women, shopping is an adventure - have fun with it, keep looking even if you don't buy anything and you don't even really need a plan. That's obviously an over-generalization (and, to its credit, the movie notes that men can just as easily become "shopaholics" as women by having a couple of men in the 12-step group dealing with the problem) but the over-generalization has basically been true in my experience. So a lot of this I really couldn't relate to. There were some positives to this movie, though, that I want to acknowledge.First, I thought that, intentional or not, there was a fairly good look at addiction and addictive behaviour. In this case, the addiction was to shopping. Rebecca (Isla Fisher) just shops. She not only shops - she buys. She sees what she wants and she buys it uncontrollably. She can't resist. I look at that and wonder - why? What's so hard about seeing something you'd like but realizing that you can't buy it? I do it all the time. But, of course, it's like any addiction - drugs, alcohol, sex, shopping. Whatever. It's uncontrollable behaviour that compensates for something. Rebecca actually had a fairly thoughtful if simple line in this movie about addictive behaviour: "When I shop the world seems better." Which sums addiction up and explains why destructive behaviours nevertheless become both compulsive and addictive. For a little while, they make things seem better - until the high wears off and you need to do it again. So I could buy that reflection on addictive behaviour. The movie also didn't hold back in looking at the consequences of addictive behaviour. Relationships were damaged and people were hurt because of Rebecca's actions - although reconciliation perhaps came about too quickly to be believable. Rebecca also had to overcome her denial about being a shopaholic. Again, quite accurate. But in spite of the decent enough reflection on addiction, this movie didn't work for me.It is, after all, a romantic comedy. For a romantic comedy to work it has to have at least one of two things going for it - it either has to have a story that's downright charming, or it has to have a good chemistry between the leads. I didn't get a sense of either. There was literally no charm to this movie. I didn't like the characters particularly; I didn't feel anything for them. Ironically, to me the only character I felt sympathy for was Derek Smeath - the collections agent who was trying to get Rebecca to pay her bills. The guy was just doing his job. She had a huge debt that she was literally refusing to pay off and was making excuses about. Rebecca's escapes might have been humorous, but I really disliked (REALLY!) the decision to turn Smeath into an arch-villain toward the end when he publicly confronted Rebecca on national television and humiliated her. (And, yes, that was also the only time in the movie I felt any real sympathy for Rebecca as well.) That was just not necessary. Smeath didn't have to be turned into the standard arch-villain. Just doing his job (and Rebecca trying to avoid him) was enough to move the story forward. I also felt little chemistry between Fisher and Hugh Dancy, who played her boss/love interest Luke. I just didn't feel that they worked that well together. The relationship seemed forced and unreal all the way through. And the humour in this movie fell flat to me. There was real potential for this to be very funny. The basic plot has all sorts of possibilities - an out of control shopaholic with a mountain of debt gets a job writing a column giving saving advice for readers of a financial magazine. More could have been done with that, in my opinion.The negatives to this far outweighed the positives for me. And, not being much of a fan of John Goodman, his fortunately limited appearances as Rebecca's father nevertheless grated on me. (3/10)

I saw this movie in the cinema and it's money I wish I'd saved. It's only now, nearly six years later that I can bring myself to write a review on this shambles of a movie. Firstly let me make one thing clear, if you've never read the Shopaholic books you might enjoy this movie. If you watch it with no prior knowledge of the books it might be enjoyable. I couldn't tell you because I had read every book up to that point. So when I saw the movie I almost cried...and not by how amazing it was. I almost cried because of how insulting it was to the books. The casting was terrible. Not a single actor portrayed the characters properly and the movie left out so many things. It might as well have been a stand alone movie because it was nothing like the book at all. For those who love the Shopaholic books, keep clear of this movie. It will haunt you forever.

Isla Fisher plays Becky Bloomwood a young woman who is obsessed with shopping. She loves it so much she ends up in debt and has to get a job. So she ends up taking a position for a handsome man called Luke played by Hugh Dancy not knowing to him that there is a man after Becky for humiliating her because of her addiction of shopping. From there the two start to like each other even if there is a bit of competition from Lesile Bibbs character who also has a thing for Luke.Overall the film is plain stupid especially with the models coming alive and wanting Becky to buy a green scarf.If you love a bit of silliness than check it out. Keep an eye out for Wendy Maliack from Alvin & The Chipmunks 2 and The Emperors New Groove who plays a woman who wants Becky to stop being an addict over shopping.2/10