Here is the most recent review for roanoke.com.
I spent the better half of the past two days dissing “Confessions of a Shopaholic” before I actually saw the movie. In my mind, I ripped the plot to shreds, jumped up and down on the remains and then threw them under the bus.
My mom and I went to see the romantic comedy Friday. Walking in to the theater, I told her she must love me a lot to spend her money on such an awful movie. To which she replied (in that way moms do), “You haven’t even seen it yet. What if you actually like it?” Yeah, that’ll happen.
The cynic in me wants to slam “Confessions” right now, but the girl in me who adores cheesy love connections and feel-good moments is winning out — big time.
“Confessions” is terrible. But in the way that “Clueless” and “Legally Blonde” are terrible. I have seen both of those movies at least three times. I mean, what girl doesn’t adore Cher Horowitz and Elle Woods, at least a little? You with me, ladies?
The same thing happened with Rebecca Bloomwood. Before I knew it, I started to like her. I didn’t expect Australian actress Isla Fisher (“Wedding Crashers”) to charm me the way she did. Her comedic turn here is reminiscent of Debra Messing’s Grace in “Will and Grace.” Innocently stupid with good intentions all over the place.
Rebecca is a 20-something journalist living high on the hog in New York City. Scene after scene, we see Rebecca throwing around her 12 credit cards (“Put $10 on this one, $20 on this one …”) to stuff her wardrobe with Prada, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent.
She comes from a frugal family, played spot-on by John Goodman and Joan Cusack (complete with the bowl of peppermints on their dining room table).
It is Rebecca’s dream to one day work for prominent fashion magazine Allete (Why is it always a fashion magazine? Why not a travel magazine?), but to get there she must accept a job as a columnist at a financial magazine.
OK, here comes the criticism that I just can’t ignore (think of it as a movie montage, only without music):
Do you know how long it takes to become a columnist for any publication? I know journalists who are well into their 40s who haven’t reached that coveted job description yet.
Also, the fact that Rebecca, who is up to her designer sunglasses in debt, would ever land that job in the first place is complete lunacy. But she does, and
she takes the world — yes, the world — by storm with her very first column. And not only that, but she also wins the heart of her editor and son-of-
a-socialite Luke Brandon (Hugh Dancy, “Jane Austen Book Club”).
Whew. Much better.
Rebecca’s shopping addiction was played light during the first half of the movie, but then became a defining element of her character by the end.
Rebecca’s good intentions, like all good intentions before hers, eventually crash down in a heap of exposed lies and betrayals, and her demons finally get
the best of her. Like any addict, it takes a trip to rock bottom to finally wake up and smell the Italian leather.
“Confessions” wasn’t as terrible/good as “Legally Blonde,” but it was close. I admit it, I liked it. Rebecca Bloomwood pulled one over on me, and I’m betting
anything that right now Mom is smiling (in that way moms do).
