Here we are, only nine months after the Sex and the City movie, and an obsessive spender with an overstuffed closet -and credit card bills to match- no longer seems quite so cute.
Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:151
Fresh:34
Rotten:117
Average Rating:4.3/10
Consensus: This middling romantic comedy underutilizes a talented cast and delivers muddled messages on materialism and conspicuous consumption.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Mar 12, 2009 Wide
US Box Office: $44,239,688
Synopsis: Based on a pair of effervescent novels by Sophie Kinsella, CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC is a light and bubbly confection that should appeal to those who can identify with its heroine's passion.... Based on a pair of effervescent novels by Sophie Kinsella, CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC is a light and bubbly confection that should appeal to those who can identify with its heroine's passion. Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher, WEDDING CRASHERS) has a label-filled wardrobe that any fashionista would covet, but she also has credit card debt to match. She craves a job at the Vogue-like Alette, but a position at a financial magazine at the same publishing company may be her ticket in. Despite her painfully low credit rating, Becky starts dishing out advice on saving, while debt collector Derek Smeath (character actor Robert Stanton) is hot on her Louboutin heels. Meanwhile, she is competing for the affections of her charming boss, Luke Brandon (Hugh Dancy, THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB), with icy Alette employee Alicia Billington (Leslie Bibb, IRON MAN). A well-heeled hybrid of SEX AND THE CITY and THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, SHOPAHOLIC features the talents of Patricia Field, costume designer for those two films. The clothes are almost on an equal footing with the actors here, and each well-chosen piece in Manhattan shop windows or worn by Bloomwood helps contribute to the film's bright mood. A lesser actress might have been lost in all the colors, but Fisher is a formidable comic presence who pulls off Becky's ditzy lines and goofy falls with equal aplomb. Those hoping for a smart discourse on the perils of credit cards and excess spending are certainly watching the wrong film, but SHOPAHOLIC may just be the fashion equivalent of food porn for dieters. [More]
Starring: Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Joan Cusack, John Goodman
Starring: Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Joan Cusack, John Goodman, John Lithgow, Kristin Scott Thomas, Fred Armisen, Leslie Bibb, Julie Hagerty, Krysten Ritter, Robert Stanton, Christine Ebersole, Clea Lewis, Wendie Malick, Stephanie March
Director: P.J. Hogan
Director: P.J. Hogan
Screenwriter: Tim Firth, Tracey Jackson
Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer
Composer: James Newton Howard
Studio: Buena Vista Internationa
Reviews for Confessions of a Shopaholic
Isla Fisher [is] as bright a comic talent as anything Hollywood has to offer these days.
There is so much wrong with Confessions of a Shopaholic -- timing, execution, resolution and moral stance, to name a few -- that it's hard to know where to begin.
It was hard to shake the worry that a fizzy comedy about debt would be about as wrong for our current woes as uncorking a bottle of champagne. Confessions is definitely slight.
You never believe, even in a fantasy way, that Bloomwood could stumble into a job at a Manhattan-based financial magazine for a Conde Nast-like conglomerate.
If there is a single bright spot in the financial crisis, it is the possibility that one day producer Jerry Bruckheimer will run out of money.
The flick might deliver some good laughs and decent performances, but the script had some of the more forced and unrealistic dialogue I have seen in a long time.
Yearning to be a frothy screwball comedy, this movie has a humor deficit that all the slapstick in Fort Knox couldn't offset.
It's even more disappointing because from the general plot of the film it is clear that had the film makers gone in a few different directions Shopaholic could have been a colorful dress from Betsey Johnson instead of just another little black noth
There are only so many times you can use the word "formulaic" before your voice becomes nothing more than white noise.
Isla Fisher is carrying this often stylish comedy on her Prada-upholstered back.
Like the flailing American economy, Confessions of a Shopaholic wants to eat its cake and have its spiritual redemption too. (Talk about timing!)
Strains far too hard for comedy that seldom erupts with full force and inevitably betrays a free-spending mindset that now feels gone with the wind.
At the Confessions of a Shopaholic advance screening I attended, there was a fashion show before the movie sponsored by a local boutique; to me, it was like watching someone do exhibition drinking games before a screening of Leaving Las Vegas.
Why wouldn't you want to see Isla Fisher stumble on a tray of fish? Why wouldn't you want to see Isla Fisher bumble through a fan dance? Why wouldn't you want to see Isla Fisher fumble through Finnish?
Latest News for Confessions of a Shopaholic
August 06, 2009:
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February 12, 2009:
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February 12, 2009:
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