Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)
Directed by P.J. Hogan
In the glamorous world of New York City, Rebecca Bloomwood is a fun-loving girl who is really good at shopping – a little too good, perhaps. She dreams of working for her favorite fashion magazine, but can't quite get her foot in the door – until ironically, she snags a job as an advice columnist for a financial magazine published by the same company.
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Based on the novel by Sophie Kinsella but seemingly more inspired by " Legally Blonde " and " The Devil Wears Prada ," the movie strains to follow the tried-and-true formula of a perky fish out of water who is in over her head but with the determination and intelligence to prevail.
Meaning that this story about a New York professional waiting for her career to take off is a cut-rate version of The Devil Wears Prada.
Watching “Confessions” is akin to enduring a Nickelodeon pilot that attempts to cash in on the success of “The Devil Wears Prada” and the “Sex and the City” movie; audiences for the new film are expected to forget everything they know about the media, shopping, writing, the economy and human behavior in general for the plot to work.
Everything about the script is cookie cutter, a reversible wear "The Devil Wears Prada" knockoff that wears out its welcome.
A gloss of “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Legally Blonde” and “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Confessions” was directed by Brit P.J. Hogan (“My Best Friend’s Wedding”), adapted by Tracey Jackson, Tim Firth (“Kinky Boots’) and Kayla Alpert (“Ally McBeal”) and is at times wildly uneven.
Loosely based on the first two novels from UK writer Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic series, Confessions of a Shopaholic is part romantic-comedy and part fish-out-of-water film in a very similar vein to The Devil Wears Prada and How to Lose Friends & Alienate People.
Isla Fisher, the feisty redhead who stole every scene she had in Wedding Crashers, shows a continued flair for physical comedy coupled with a sweet and sassy style as Confessions of a Shopaholic's Rebecca.
But that would be unfair to IslaFisher, a comic powerhouse who had her breakout role as the nymphomaniac sister in Wedding Crashers (2005) and who seizes her long-awaited chance at stardom with both hands.
Isla Fisher, a steady scene-stealer in films such as 2005's " Wedding Crashers ," 2007's " The Lookout ," and 2008's " Definitely, Maybe ," receives her first lead role in "Confessions of a Shopaholic."
Fisher, you might recall, was the find of "Wedding Crashers" (she played the slutty sister).
Rebecca Bloomwood's (Isla Fisher, "Wedding Crashers," "Definitely, Maybe") job at a gardening magazine is not equal to her taste in designer fashion.
Star Isla Fisher (“Wedding Crashers”) is charming enough, and a gifted physical comic, but this material is so predictable and leaden that even she has no prayer of keeping it afloat.
Based on the novel by Sophie Kinsella but seemingly more inspired by " Legally Blonde " and " The Devil Wears Prada ," the movie strains to follow the tried-and-true formula of a perky fish out of water who is in over her head but with the determination and intelligence to prevail.
If you gave Bernie Madoff custody of your life savings mere days before the FBI knocked on his door last December, your timing still wouldn’t be as wretched as that of Confessions of a Shopaholic, a bright, cheery hybrid of Legally Blonde and Sex and the City that seeks to offer escapism from our current economic crisis via the story of a precious young Manhattanite who just can’t stop being fiscally irresponsible.
Despite a plot filled with contrived and cheesy moments and virtually no palpable romance between Rebecca and Brandon, what makes the film mildly engaging is its lively, energetic cast, especially Isla Fisher who radiates plenty of offbeat charisma much like Reece Witherspoon did in Legally Blonde.
A gloss of “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Legally Blonde” and “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Confessions” was directed by Brit P.J. Hogan (“My Best Friend’s Wedding”), adapted by Tracey Jackson, Tim Firth (“Kinky Boots’) and Kayla Alpert (“Ally McBeal”) and is at times wildly uneven.
On a high level, Confessions of a Shopaholic is trying to fuse The Devil Wears Prada with Legally Blonde , but it lacks the darkly satirical edge of the former and the frothy innocence of the latter.
Director P.J. Hogan (2003's " Peter Pan ") fetishizes name-brand clothing in "Confessions of a Shopaholic"Rebecca more or less orgasms the first time we see her enter a storebut he doesn't pay half as much attention to setting his story in the real world.
When he’s on his game, we get charming comedies like “Muriel’s Wedding” and “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” along with his extraordinary and sadly neglected “Peter Pan.” (Odds are, you didn’t see the latter.
But director P.J. Hogan (the 2003 version of "Peter Pan") and three credited screenwriters (including two television veterans) manage to bungle this seemingly goof-proof premise.