Confessions of a Shopaholic (P. Hogan, 2009)

Confessions of a Shopaholic, the latest offering from producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director P.J. Hogan, would appear to be a timely film that exchanges the ominous for laughs whilst commenting on America's current credit crisis. Instead, the film becomes a self-contradictory juggernaut of cliches and in the end, a disappointing leading lady debut for actress Isla Fisher.
The plot extremely formulaic and predictable; Becky (Isla Fisher) is a "shopaholic." She's in debt and by means of a very predictable twist, finds herself employed at a finance magazine. Becky then falls for the magazine's editor, leading to the typical "person meets love, person gains love, person loses love, person wins back love" story line. The film is a fish-out-of-water comedy so unoriginal that it's insulting. Demographically and content-wise, Shopaholic tries to land in the rank of Legally Blonde and Mean Girls, but lacks the intelligence and aptitude of the former, and the wit of the latter. The script is peppered with cringe-inducing dialogue, and presents nothing new and current, although the character's flaws are very relevant. The film has little satirical bite, and any edge that it shows is quickly drowned by an onslaught of moral cliches. In the end, the screenplay lacks the emotional depth to compensate for weak romantic story, resulting in a boring, unengaging story.
The premise of Shopaholic steers the movie into a very stylish realm, a realm that lets some technical aspects of the film shine. The costume and set designs are gorgeous, and they enable cinematographer Jo Willems to create some striking visuals. There's one shot of nighttime Manhattan illuminated by outdoor lights that is particularly beautiful, and a welcome relief to the scene's terrible action. The combination of James Newton Howard's buoyant, original score and scattered Top 40 pop tracks makes for an interesting accompaniment to a film stricken with platitude. Despite its technical achievements, the film's visual effects are perhaps the worst aspect of the ordeal. Slow motion shopping sequences are sprinkled into the film, shots that serve no artistic purpose and are extremely awkward. It's like Zack Snyder got ahold of one of his nightmares, directed the dream, and committed it to celluloid. Visual effects wizard John Knoll uses his prowess to create talking manikins that look and sound creepy, and disrupt the flow of the movie. End result set aside, the manikin gimmick is also a very cheap way to express Becky's addiction to shopping, leaving the viewer felt beaten by the imposition of the film's theme.
The film's ad campaign featured Isla Fisher alone, holding shopping bags and looking over-her-head. These ads reveal Fisher's performance in a single photograph. Fisher, a talented comedic actress, is very confined in the bloated script, and resorts to unsuccessful physical comedy to evoke laughs; these actions make the actress look as over-her-head in leading lady territory as her character does in her place of employment. Although beautiful in the film, Fisher turns the role into an unamusing character that leaves the audience with no choice but to execrate. The rest of the cast, despite an impressive billing, are adequate filler at best; Hugh Dancy plays the boring love interest, John Goodman and Joan Cusak the archetypal silly parents, and Krysten Ritter the down-to-earth best friend. The cast's collective mediocrity exemplifies the films main fault; looking good doesn't equate to success.
Finally, the film beholds an enormous amount of product placement; from posters of upcoming Bruckheimer productions G-Force and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time to clothing labels and even vending corporations. It's a puzzling combination, for why would a film that tries to demystify materialism promote material? This question is raised throughout the entire film, leaving one to wonder if the director aimed to create paradoxical cinema.

Bottom Line: Shopaholic values style over substance, which is a striking antithesis to the movie's theme. Due to this, the film makes no point and is nothing more than a pretty waste of time.