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82 reviews in total

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82 out of 111 people found the following review useful:
I thought it was a sweet movie :-), 15 February 2009

Author: rfurbert from United States

I'm not sure why people are giving this movie such a hard time. My husband and I went in looking for a feel-good, wholesome, lighthearted romantic comedy, and that's what we got.

The actors were all terrific. The "chemistry" was there. The storyline was interesting (not deep, somewhat predictable, but still pleasant and interesting). I laughed and smiled a lot throughout the film. I felt good as I walked out of the theater.

And I even thought that the movie did a good job of showing why people are shopaholics and how this addiction is so dangerous. The message was not so heavy as to detract from the feel-good angle of the movie, but it did try to display how ridiculous and shallow it is to be so defined by things.

You negative folks need to lighten up. Personally, I really enjoyed this movie!

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34 out of 44 people found the following review useful:
Becky Bloomwood's Alright with Me, 9 March 2009

Author: zeedunn from United States

I have been a longtime fan of the Sophie Kinsella Shopaholic books, which feature the lovable but compulsive Becky Bloomwood. So I wasn't sure what to expect out of the movie version.

Rebecca Bloomwood is a lovely redheaded young woman who loooooves to shop. I am not talking about the reasonable kind of love where she goes monthly or even weekly to see what's new at her local boutique. I am talking about an addiction as powerful as any drug out there. When she walks past a store, the mannequins talk to her and convince her that this, only this, particular item has the power to make her feel better, more attractive, more alive. She shops using 12 credit cards, including her Gold Card, which is encased in a block of ice in the freezer in case of emergencies. The tone of the film is comic, so it's not a tragic type of addiction, but we understand that Becky has a problem and she needs some serious help.

Rebecca also has her own personal bill collector stalker type person following her around named Derek Smeath. All told, she owes Mr. Smeath some $16,000. After losing her job as a journalist, she decides to apply for her dream job: fashion correspondent for Alette magazine. For Becky, this would be equivalent to an alcoholic working in a brewery. The job gets filled before she can arrive, but a sister magazine from the same magazine group, Successful Saving, is hiring. The man at the front desk assures her that the magazine group is a family, and once you're in, you're in. The only problem is that the magazine that ends up hiring Becky is a financial advice magazine. Not exactly the type of place that suits Becky's lifestyle or assets.

Becky's boss is Luke Brandon, a handsome, wealthy man with lots of energy and a black sheep complex. He never feels he can please his parents and leads a life of stress. He's amused by Becky's antics and impressed by her candor. Becky's writing for the financial magazine is a surprise hit. She writes about financial restraint in such a way that the average layperson can relate, comparing it to shoes. It seems like everything's going swell with her new job and a surprise romance with Luke. Derek Smeath can't get a leg in since she's convinced her colleagues that he's an ex-boyfriend stalking her. But like any liar knows, Becky can't keep the truth from her friends and family for long.

I enjoyed this movie. It was fun and sincere. We like Becky because she is flawed. She doesn't have it all together, but her style and spirit charm everyone around her. Sure she's addicted to shopping, but we don't despise her for it. Instead, we relate, because what woman hasn't given in to the siren song of a signature scarf now and again. The pull of a good bargain is a powerful thing, and this film is bound to be a hit with the average female.

The acting is suitable for the film. Nothing revolutionary comes out of it, but Isla Fisher will likely be back in many a comic role. The pacing of the film keeps you involved, but there are enough heartfelt moments to keep us focused.

Some have said that the timing for this film couldn't be worse. With the world in an economic downturn, do we really want to smile and nod at Becky's need to buy, buy, buy? Well, I say this film is healing balm. The nation will recover from this mini-depression, but in the meantime, it's kind of nice to voyeuristically enjoy Becky's indulgences. I have had to natch my weekly Starbucks and batten down my bank account hatches, so I need a little reward, even if it's done through Becky's pocketbook. Also, anyone who watches the film will realize that Becky goes through her own hard time, and she finds a way to get through it. She comes up with her own entrepreneurial scheme to pay off her debt. This is what we all need to do during the difficult times. Find a way to get through. Becky is my hero.

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60 out of 98 people found the following review useful:
I love a good chick flick - but that was just painful, 25 March 2009

Author: Peter Sebastian K

Let me start off by saying that I'm not your typical macho male who hates everything that is even remotely resembling to a chick flick. I like a good chick flick - if it's good. Most of them are. Some are not. Confessions of a Shopaholic fall into the latter category. The movie is painfully predictable (you can literally guess what will happen next) and ridiculously not funny. The acting is poor, even though there is a number of well-renowned artists present. The fashions is more than once, more than twice absolutely disgraceful, especially for a fashion themed movie. The plot is flat and it lacks much sense. The main character is annoyingly irresponsible. The list goes on and on, but there is something more that is really frightening. The movie is basically about a person who suffers from being a shopaholic. She has actual illness, which makes her buy everything she sees on the display, which gives her an adrenaline rush. We all know that there is such thing. Nothing wrong about making a movie about it either. The problem is that this is not handled in any good way in the movie. The girl gets off easy, she barely learns her lesson and on top of everything the poor debt-collecting worker is being shown as a negative character for reasons I cannot fully understand. What's even more frightening, I can see this movie being a guideline for hundreds of women who in deed have a spending problem, who do spend more than they make and I doubt that this movie will make them rethink their actions, au contraire: they will find it as an excuse to develop their habits even further. As far as I am from preaching about the state of economy, I really thought that this movie carried a certain amount of wisdom; instead of this, I was left with a moronic picture for brain-dead. Thanks, but no thanks. If a gay guy hates a chick flick, then you know it can't be good.

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28 out of 43 people found the following review useful:
Confessions of a Shopaholic-aholic, 8 March 2009

Author: misterembryo from United States

I confess. I fell for the Shopaholic. Isla Fisher is charming, funny, adorably goofy yet undeniably attractive. You can't help but notice her uncanny resemblance to Enchanted's Amy Adams, which is not a bad thing at all, yet she still maintains the same unique kookiness we all enjoyed in her role as Vince Vaughn's equal in The Wedding Crashers. The incredible job on the CGI'd mannequins, done by Lucasfilms' Industrial Light & Magic, is also worth mentioning.

You're not supposed to go into the movie expecting it to be the next epic Titanic love story. You're expecting it to be goofy and sentimental yet genuine and entertaining, and it was all those things.

Confessions of a Shopaholic is a rare gem that's worth the guilty swipe of a maximized credit card.

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23 out of 34 people found the following review useful:
Should make Melanie Griffith proud., 12 February 2009
Author: John DeSando (jdesando@columbus.rr.com) from Columbus, Ohio

Being a non-shopper, I can hardly call myself expert on the parsing of a shopaholic in Confessions of a Shopaholic. But this I can say: Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) is an addict of major proportions, unable to let go of the exhilaration that shopping brings, a feeling that the world is better for her purchases.

The film is a cliché from the get go, as corny as could possibly be about 25 year old writer Rebecca with the shopping affliction who eventually meets her dream man through a series of subterfuges that would make Melanie Griffith's Tess in Working Girl proud. What saves the film from my scourge, which did not spare the recent Pink Panther 2, is Isla Fisher, who plays dangerous innocence with sincerity and fresh-facedness that makes even Anne Hathaway's Devil Wears Prada role seem downright Machiavellian.

Confessions has this going for it: Although it is not a Judd Apatow comedy with some layers of sophisticated social comedy, it has moments of laughter and social conscience. Coming as it does amidst the worst recession in decades, in which shopping would be a welcome antidote to the fear of spending that exacerbates the recession, Confessions almost makes a case for credit spending; then again maybe such encouragement is not a good thing for shopaholics.

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16 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
Shop here if you have no other worthy comedic movie to shop in!, 2 March 2009

Author: meeza (themeezaman@hotmail.com) from Miami, Fl

I have to give credit where credit is due; "Confessions of a Shopaholic" does have some engaging moments of comedic credibility. But unfortunately not enough to provide the film with a high interest rate. "Confessions of a Shopaholic" stars the perky Isla Fisher as Rebecca Bloomwood, a full-time magazine writer who also moonlights and daylights as a full-time shopaholic. Ms. Bloomwoodgale herself persistently shops & shops and has run her credit card balances to astronomical rates. Rebecca is in denial that she has a consumer addiction even though she continues to confront many credit card denials in her shopping sprees. She inadvertently gets hired to work as a journalist in (out of all places) a financial magazine. However, her overridden goal is to work as a fashion journalist in the monarchic fashion magazine "Adelle". She starts writing columns in the financial magazine with the alias "the girl with the green scarf" on the nightmare of commercial manipulation and consumer zaniness. Yes! That is true! Is this great country or what? Oh wait, memo to self: this is a movie! Rebecca's personal list includes: a humble editor boss whom she falls for, a best friend roommate who tries to control her shopamanian ways, and parents who want to pursue their R.V. road trip dreams. Eventually and predictably, Rebecca does get herself in several hot water scenarios caused by her consumer craziness and persistent blasphemy. So therefore, she does go through the self-realization addiction process. Director P.J. Hogan's stereotypical depictions of the consumer industry did not provide me anything of originality to get all charged about. However, I must not discount the fact that I did like how he directed Isla Fisher. She was The Fisher Queen of this film with her zany but yet fervent performance; Isla is sure to have her master thespian card renewed with other comedic leading roles in the foreseeable future. However, the rest of the cast of "Confessions of a Shopaholic" are not worthy of a credit thespian increase. Screenwriter Tracey Jackson's script was not of a "laugh-it-all blue light special" material, but commendable enough for a few laughs in return. Due to our nation's economic strife, "Confessions of a Shopaholic" might not be the ideal movie to watch these days; but then again as was previously mentioned- It is a movie! So this yours truly movieholic will try to sale it to you at a moderate price. *** Average

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9 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Shallow, Silly, but Makes Laugh, 30 September 2009

Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In New York, the journalist and compulsive liar Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) is an addicted consumer that can not resist shopping fashionable clothes and outfits in fancy shops and has several unplayable debts with the credit cards. She dreams on working in the fashion magazine Alette owned by the sophisticated Alette Naylor (Kristin Scott Thomas), but she does not succeed in her intent. When Becky loses her job, she drinks a lot of booze with her best friend Suze (Krysten Ritter) and sends an offensive letter to the editor Luke Brandon (Hugh Dancy) from the financial magazine "Successful Saving" and an article to Alette to show her potential. However, she unintentionally switches the correspondences in the mailbox and Luke hires her to write a column called "The Girl in the Green Scarf" in his magazine using a simple language and metaphors that could be easily understood by common people. Meanwhile the debt collector Derek Smeath (Robert Stanton) is chasing Becky and she is avoiding him everywhere, telling that he is an ex-boyfriend that is stalking her. When her column becomes a success, Becky is invited to participate in a talk show and Luke and she fall in love for each other. However, her lies and debts put her in a difficult situation with her audience, Suze and Luke.

"Confessions of a Shopaholic" is a silly story with a shallow and unlikable red-haired character that is the stereotype of the dumb-blonde that surprisingly makes laugh with some ridiculous situations. One of the funniest jokes is with Finland and Finnish language, inclusive in the credits Becky presents Alicia as a prostitute to the Finnish guys after leaning the language. I believe that people connected to fashion and fashionable outfits will enjoy this forgettable movie much more than I did. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Os Delírios de Consumo de Becky Bloom" ("The Delirium of Consumption of Becky Bloom")

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43 out of 78 people found the following review useful:
Use your $$ to buy the book!, 15 February 2009

Author: lulut_17 from United States

Where do I start... this movie was terrible! I went with my friends on Valentines day hoping for a fun chick flick. We were all so bored and annoyed with the movie that we couldn't wait for it to be over.

If you've read the book, you'll be distracted by how different the movie is. They took a good concept and pretty much ruined it. There is a lot of overacting/squealing/screaming, characters that pop in and out, and laughable, cheesy drama at the end. To wrap it up, there are even creepy mannequins. While the movie is packed with good actors and actresses, their talent isn't utilized in this silly, overworked script.

Invest your $10 in the book... it's much better!

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25 out of 44 people found the following review useful:
In times of money madness, its shopping time, 3 March 2009

Author: Stampsfightclub from United Kingdom

Shopaholic Rebecca Bloomwood (Fisher) looks to settle in at a money magazine as her shopping bills pile up.

After some charmingly weird performances in Wedding Crashers, Definitely, Maybe and Wedding Daze, Isla Fisher secures her first major lead role as cooky Bloomwood, the symbol of shopping, the girl who simply has to have everything that she sees. That cutting edge charm in the star's previous roles is frequently present but with a tried and tested formulaic plot that charm is always hanging in mid air.

This isn't a star driven film, and with an ordinary story and hardly any humour you wonder what the purpose is. It juggles the addiction of shopping and over-dramatic central character too much to balance specifically on either entertainment or drama.

Based on Sophie Kinsella's best selling novels, Confessions is designed to appeal to people who simply were born to shop and enjoy spending money without considering those disastrous consequences. So cue all recent high street sellers names add in awkward spurts of humour and encode a tried and tested narrative and you have your typical story for the current fashion industry. And at a time of a certain credit crunch, what's better to remind yourself of the people who have money to spend? So here you have the potential to convey current political issues and show disastrous ramifications and amazingly, this does not. Rebecca finds a job and soon she is the talk of the town and she is single so a romantic interest is thrown in, as is the challenge of a new job and everything starts to escalate on exactly the same day and she is in trouble etc.

It's hard not to be surprised by how ordinary this film actually is. The trailer says it all. Though the book is based on an English girl's addiction, the film is an American adaptation and you get the feeling if this was a British film there would be more dramatic consequences and a more realistic and surprising turn of the problem rather than this frankly boring take.

My friend who forced me to see this film with him was laughing beside me, at how bad this was. However I found it so bad and such a waste of money, that I couldn't even do that. Confessions of a Shopaholic is your typical story wrapped around touchy subject that is undeveloped, inaccurate and down right poor.

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8 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Money isn't everything to Rebecca Bloomwood, but shopping is., 26 February 2009

Author: Kris Hopson (kris.hopson@hotmail.com) from Windsor, Ontario

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) is a journalist with aspirations to work for Alette magazine. When her current job is lost when her company goes bankrupt, Rebecca is devastated to find she is $9000+ in debt. She, ironically, becomes a financial adviser columnist.

I went to this movie purely because of my crush on Isla, ever since seeing her in Wedding Crashers as the nympho obsessed with Jeremy (Vince Vaughn). It is without a doubt, a gigantic chick flick. Jokes that occur during the film, 90% of them have been seen in the trailer. Not trying to knock the movie, but that's a fact. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie, laughed a lot and sat awwstruck by the talent showcased by Isla. She really showed her colors by hitting all elements of the emotion spectrum.

I was surprised that her co-stars are such big names; such as her parents being played by lovable John Goodman and Joan Cusack, with Edgar West being played by John Lithgow and her opposite of the film being Hugh Dancy. There's a truckload of "aww" uttering romance, "lol" comedy and it's great for all ages. It also has a lesson at the end: use credit cards wisely. But overall, it teaches you that only fairy tale romance is active in Hollywood, not in reality. In the real world, Rebecca would not have gotten back in the black side of finance.

The clichés damper the movie's rating, for me, but it's a very enjoyful movie and I wouldn't mind seeing it a few more times before it leaves the theaters. By the way, it's a great date movie. Recommended.

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