Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)

Director:

P.J. Hogan

Writers (WGA):

Tracey Jackson (screenplay) and
Tim Firth (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

13 February 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

All she ever wanted was a little credit...

Plot:

A college grad lands a job as a financial journalist in New York City to support where she nurtures her shopping addiction and falls for a wealthy entrepreneur.

Plot Keywords:

Shopping | Journalist | New York City | Debt Collector | Financial Journalist

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Isla Fisher	...	Rebecca Bloomwood
Hugh Dancy	...	Luke Brandon
Krysten Ritter	...	Suze
Joan Cusack	...	Jane Bloomwood
John Goodman	...	Graham Bloomwood
John Lithgow	...	Edgar West
Kristin Scott Thomas	...	Alette Naylor
Fred Armisen	...	Ryan Koenig
Leslie Bibb	...	Alicia Billington
Lynn Redgrave	...	Drunken Lady at Ball
Robert Stanton	...	Derek Smeath
Julie Hagerty	...	Hayley
Nick Cornish	...	Tarquin
Wendie Malick	...	Miss Korch
Clea Lewis	...	Miss Ptaszinski

MPAA:

Rated PG for some mild language and thematic elements.

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Finnish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #44816) | Ireland:PG | UK:PG | South Korea:12 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Netherlands:AL | Australia:PG | South Africa:PG | New Zealand:PG | Singapore:PG | Norway:A | Sweden:Btl | Argentina:Atp | Portugal:M/12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Belgium:KT | Mexico:A | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Germany:6 | France:U | Peru:PT

Filming Locations:

Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

Isla Fisher is only 14 years younger then Joan Cusack who plays her mother, Jane Bloomwood.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Rebecca is riding in a cab, you can see a close-up of the window. Two billboards shown reflected in the window. The images are not reversed, as they would be if they were reflections.

Quotes:

Rebecca Bloomwood: You know that thing when you see someone cute and he smiles and your heart kind of goes like warm butter sliding down hot toast? Well that's what it's like when I see a store. Only it's better.

Movie Connections:

References When Harry Met Sally... (1989)

Soundtrack:

Rehab

Should make Melanie Griffith proud.

Being a non-shopper, I can hardly call myself expert on the parsing of a shopaholic in Confessions of a Shopaholic. But this I can say: Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) is an addict of major proportions, unable to let go of the exhilaration that shopping brings, a feeling that the world is better for her purchases.

The film is a cliché from the get go, as corny as could possibly be about 25 year old writer Rebecca with the shopping affliction who eventually meets her dream man through a series of subterfuges that would make Melanie Griffith's Tess in Working Girl proud. What saves the film from my scourge, which did not spare the recent Pink Panther 2, is Isla Fisher, who plays dangerous innocence with sincerity and fresh-facedness that makes even Anne Hathaway's Devil Wears Prada role seem downright Machiavellian.

Confessions has this going for it: Although it is not a Judd Apatow comedy with some layers of sophisticated social comedy, it has moments of laughter and social conscience. Coming as it does amidst the worst recession in decades, in which shopping would be a welcome antidote to the fear of spending that exacerbates the recession, Confessions almost makes a case for credit spending; then again maybe such encouragement is not a good thing for shopaholics.