Review: Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)

[Homer Yen]

"Confessions" Doesn't Have a Whole Lot to Say
by Homer Yen
(c) 2009

In many ways, "Confessions of a Shopaholic" follows the same
trajectory-of-euphoria as purchasing a cashmere coat with your credit
card.  It seems great at first.  Then you stop paying attention to it.
 Then you realize that you'll have to keep paying for it long after
there isn't any more use for the coat.  That is not to say, however,
that I didn't like "COAS".  In fact, I took that cute metaphor from
the film. But for all of its initial promise, I wished that there was
more to it.  I wished that it could've left a lingering, positive
impression.  Instead, it only achieves being a semi-cute romantic
comedy splashed with elements from just about every film starring Hugh
Grant

"COAS" is actually two separate films-in-one.  On the one hand, it is
a humorous-if-only-superficial look at the irresistible urge for some
to shop and the consequences that arise from mounting debt.  Shopping
(actually...buying) is especially addictive for Rebecca (Isla Fisher)
who says in an early scene, "there are real prices and there are Mom
prices.  The real prices are for real things like shoes with sparkly
things on them that probably last one season.  The mom prices usually
involve something that's unattractively brown and lasts forever."
Well, it's the sparkly things that people like Rebecca want.  Now, to
the passers-by, it may look like a coat by Burberry or a blouse by
Chanel.  But the real story is: coat by Visa and blouse by American
Express.  That's fresh and I liked how the film starts.

The other part of the film involves Rebecca unexpectedly landing a job
as a personal finance columnist.  Now, the irony begins to take shape.
 She is in huge amounts of debt with an overly aggressive
debt-collector pursuing her.  Yet, her personal musings on why purses
are better than men (you can return purses and instantly pick another)
make for great reading.  She's a simple girl with not-so-simple
tastes.  Her romantic interest (Hugh Dancy) is her editor who is a
not-so-simple guy with simple tastes.  Sure, there are cute scenes
between the two, especially when he saves her from an embarrassing
moment at a company dinner.  Yet, while the film has a generally
amiable feeling, it doesn't go any further.  And, her parents (John
Goodman and Joan Cusack) are totally underutilized.

"COAS" has an unexpectedly whimsical nature.  It starts with the
buoyancy of the film's star.  It continues on with the lifelike
mannequins that adorn the windows of 5th Ave that taunt poor Rebecca
into buying something that she can't afford.  And it charges forth
with screwball silliness.  Our in-debt heroine is wonderfully ditzy.
At the same time, it doesn't really manage to distinguish itself from
any of the other Hugh Grant/meet-cute films.  As Rebecca herself
laments, shopping is like a drug or an aphrodisiac.  The euphoria
never lasts as long as initially hoped.

Sadly, the same is true of this film.  It's kind of like asking
yourself at the checkout counter, with your 12% credit card in hand,
should I go ahead and get it?  Do I really want it?  Despite flashes
of radiance, the film begins to feel long.  And, when I say *feel*,
it's the same feeling you have when you have a balance on a
high-interest credit card and make only the minimum payments.

Grade:	B-

S:	1 out of 3
L:	0 out of 3
V:	0 out of 3
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