The film falls down in other areas besides the money issue however. Watching Becky in the workplace early on, one is absolutely astounded that she ever got employed anywhere. When she begins her new job she shows up late to a meeting, and begins to loudly sharpen her pencil, thereby interrupting everyone and bringing the meeting to a crashing halt. It's as though she is in middle school, not a writer who has worked at other magazines or someone who has ever attended any sort of business function.
Joan Cusack, John Goodman, and John Lithgow all manage to make smallish appearances in the film, which only serve to leave the audience utterly flabbergasted at why the three would have bothered. At least Kristin Scott Thomas gets to be over-the-top and fun as the head of a fashion magazine, the other three are just… there.
Perhaps the best thing about the film is the quality of the Blu-ray release. It is, as one would expect from a new fashion-focused film, incredibly sharp and bright, with all the patterns on every outfit Becky wears perfectly visible. The sound is just as crisp and clean as the picture, with every utterance of the words "Yves saint Laurent" coming across as some sort of monastic chant.
The release also contains the necessary deleted scenes and bloopers as well as some music videos. As for behind-the-scenes bits, the audience is treated to discussions of fashion in the film and how items worn were chosen, the aesthetic look that they were trying to achieve, etc.
In the end, Isla Fisher actually almost pulls the entire thing off. Despite the utterly nonsensical things the character does and the complete lack of dramatic tension, Fisher's charisma and charm come through to such an extent that it all almost works… almost. The fashions exhibited in the movie may be fabulous — I'm certainly no judge of that – but without a decent story to back them and Fisher up, there just isn't enough in Confessions of a Shopaholic to make it worth more than a rental on an otherwise slow night.
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