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 CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC (TWO-DISC SPECIAL EDITION + DIGITAL COPY) |
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| Featuring: Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Joan Cusack, Kristin Scott Thomas, John Lithgow |
| Director: P.J. Hogan |
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Distributor: Touchstone Home Entertainment |
| DVD release: 23 June 2009 |
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Runtime: 105 min.
(2 discs) |
| Format: AC-3, Color, Content/Copy-Protected CD, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen, Blu-ray |
| DVD features: 1080p High Definition, Aspect ratio 2.39:1, Audio tracks (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 - English; Dolby Digital 5.1 - English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Portugese), Subtitles (English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Bahasa, Malay, Korean, Chinese), "Accessory" music video by Jordan Taylor, "Takes Time to Love" music video by Trey Songz, "Behind the Fashion" (Wardrobe by Patricia Field, Temple of Shopping, The Green Scarf, New York Fashion Central, Sample Sale Madness, Window Shopping) |
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I personally have read and enjoyed all of the "Shopaholic" novels by Sophie Kinsella. They are cute, funny, and entertaining. Although the movie adaptation has some glowing moments, overall it fails to even come close to measuring up to the book series. It's a bit difficult to picture the very British Becky Bloomwood as an American, so that causes some problems from the beginning for anyone who is familiar with the character.
Becky Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) is a journalist at a low-end gardening magazine in New York City with a passion for name-brand fashion and the credit card bills to prove it. She's overextended but can't seem to stop spending money on clothes, shoes, handbags, and the like. She wants to work for a fashion magazine but finds herself with a job at a financial one instead, working for boss Luke Brandon (Hugh Dancy). Becky quickly wins over the "everyman" reader with her comedic take on how finance relates to shopping for clothing. Becky and Luke are attracted to one another, but until Becky confronts her shopaholic tendencies, they cannot manage to be together.
The stellar supporting cast includes Joan Cusack (playing Becky's mom) and John Goodman (playing Becky's dad), but not much is done with their characters. Overall, I didn't feel the chemistry between Dancy and Fisher, and Fisher's portrayal of Becky is almost slapstick. She frustrated me so badly that sometimes I just wanted to slap her and tell her to grow up and face her adult responsibilities. I think Becky is the type of character who needs to grow on you through a series of books rather than a one-shot look at her life.
The video and audio quality of the Blu-ray are excellent, and exclusive special features include two additional music videos and a handful of making-of featurettes. The Blu-ray pack does come with a digital copy, a must for those who want to put the flick on their portable device to watch elsewhere.
Bottom line is, that apart from a few funny scenes (especially the ones involving the debt collector), Confessions of a Shopaholic is middle-of-the-road for a romantic comedy. Fellow shopaholics will probably enjoy it, but everyone else will likely find it silly and even a little boring.
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