Review

Review Date: 15-February-09
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Just OK

Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)

I braved the fetid swamp of romantic comedy — where nothing fresh ever blooms and a pair of X chromosomes entails an incurable compulsion for shoes — for one reason and one reason only: I wanted to witness the arrival of Isla Fisher as a star who can carry a film. Since she was the scene-stealing highlight of Wedding Crashers and Definitely, Maybe, it is no wonder that Hollywood decided to promote her as its next darling. (And lord knows the movies can use more redheads.) Judging by Confessions of a Shopaholic, Fisher should be sitting pretty for a while. The plot of this bauble is identical to every other of its kind, but Fisher shines through the rigmarole about the career and love struggles and best-friend and family snuggles in the life of a quote-unquote average girl. She possesses the natural and non-threatening beauty that every lighthearted leading lady needs and the ability to convey true remorse and describe the nature of her insecurity. She also has the comedic wherewithal to nail that signature scene, the one to make the crowd roar and talk up the picture to their friends, which here involves a fan dance that liquifies the knees of Hugh Dancy as her lackluster (by contrast) Mr. Right.

The only failing of Confessions of a Shopaholic which Fisher's charm cannot dispel is the way it offers credit card abuse as both bait and bad guy with little attempt to reconcile the contradiction. The assumption seems to be that the female audience will envy the heroine's shopping sprees and possessions, accept that her debt is a serious matter nevertheless, and then breathe a sigh of relief that she can bail herself out in multiple ways, retaining her honor and her looks and getting a boyfriend as a parting gift. This is a wee bit simplistic even for brainless fare. The wrap-up skirts the issues inherent in the setup, i.e., that hard lessons might need to be learned by an addict who does what every influence of our society tells her to do: buy, buy, buy! be shallow, be shallow, be shallow!

Copyright © 2009 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.