DVD Review: Confessions of a Shopaholic

If you can relate to the formulaic plot, it is possible to be entertained by an overzealous redhead on a shopping spree, maxing out her many credit cards, and attending Shopaholics Anonymous meetings. Unfortunately this relativity doesn't apply to those who hate shopping. Based on the best-selling novels Confessions of a Shopaholic and Shopaholic Takes on Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella, Confessions of a Shopaholic has a targeted audience, and if you don't fall into said category you won't find much of anything in Confessions of a Shopaholic funny or entertaining.

After her shopping addiction lands her knee deep in credit card debt, college graduate Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) unintentionally lands a job as a journalist for a money management magazine in New York City, which helps support her shopping habit. She becomes famous for her article "The Girl in the Green Scarf." In the process, she falls for the boss (Hugh Dancy).

Directed by P.J. Hogan (My Best Friend's Wedding), Confessions of a Shopaholic is an undisguised chick flick with a meandering plot, a cast of overactors, a messy script, and even includes feeble messages scrambled in among the fashion show of appalling clothing and distasteful shoes. You get the jest from the start. It's a one-note, one-tone premise and doesn't accomplish anything aside from a smirk or two.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer takes his first stab at producing this type of movie, rendering a glimmer of hope for men who are looking for some sort of Bruckheimer-esque elements. This glimpse fades just moments into the film, when that optimistic sliver of hope becomes shadowed by the flamboyant characters and the awful Gwen Stefani ringtone. The urge to watch something like Die Hard or The Warriors emerges after sitting through the cute and innocent spectrum of Confessions of a Shopaholic.

The cast is well assembled, if the goal was to find a neurotic and intolerable redhead as the lead who "speaks product." All said and done, it could be worse, but not by much. Maybe if you have a taste for shopping and fashion accessories it's worth a look, otherwise it might be hard to find anything worthwhile in this preppy and tiresome chick flick.

Included in the special features of Confessions of a Shopaholic are deleted scenes (two of which are amusing), "Bloopers of a Shopaholic" which is rather poorly assembled, and a "Stuck With Each Other" music video By Shontelle featuring Akon.

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Article Author: Derek Fleek

Derek Fleek is an online movie critic and promoter of the site Popcorn Monsters. His favorite genres are horror (modern and classic), comedy horror, and occasionally a good drama. His favorite movie is Pulp Fiction and his favorite director is Quentin Tarantino. …

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