Confessions of a Shopaholic, based on the novel by Sophie Kinsella - Seven out of 10

Confessions of a Shopaholic, based on the novel by Sophie Kinsella

Seven out of 10

For those living in less developed lands, the main theme of this motion picture would seem preposterous, for their problem would be to get enough money to buy food, pay the rent and medical expenses and not the latest Prada, Louboutin or other high fashion labels.

Nevertheless, this is an old theme, best described and solved by Charles Dickens in one of his masterpieces, David Copperfield:

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." Mr. Micawber

The protagonist of this light comedy is Rebecca Bloomwood aka the very good, likeable Isla Fisher, a woman who is addicted to shopping, hence The Confessions of a Shopaholic.

There are many amusing scenes, one of the first has the heroine suggest the sex orgasm, only in her case it seems a state of equal – no, superior – bliss is obtained when shopping for her favorite clothes, handbags, etc.

Alas, there are so many bargains and discounts – she has to fight over a pair of boots that were marked at a fifty per cent discount with another mad shopper – which she ends up unable to pay the accumulated debts, which stand at over sixteen thousand dollars at one point.

Together with her friend Suze -, portrayed by Krysten Ritter – seen by this viewer in Breaking Bad – she has developed a technique to avoid calls from those who want to recuperate money from her.

They answer the phone and go through a pre-established list of false excuses running from accidents, to relatives in hospital and including a bizarre and often reference to…Finland.

When challenged about this frequent use of lies connected to the Scandinavian country, the shopaholic retorts:

“Nobody wants to check upon Finland”

Nevertheless, she would be in awkward situation with a Finnish man, because she would have claimed to speak the language, only she does not know a word.

When she is panicked that one green scarf she wants may be out of her reach, Rebecca meets a crucial character, at a hotdog stand.

She has seen this essential piece of attire, but her credit cards are rejected continuously at the cashier and she needs desperately to get the cash so she jumps at the first counter, selling hotdogs and she wants to offer a deal, to buy all the dogs – perhaps forty – just to get the missing twenty.

Luke Brandon aka Hugh Dancy is next in line and he gives the woman the twenty dollars together with an important economic lesson.

The two meet again, when the young woman is interviewing for a new position, for her previous job has been lost.

To her surprise, the man who is about to listen to her is the stranger who paid for her scarf, which she had claimed would be a gift for her aunt.

Rebecca throws the compromising item on a desk, because her pretense would be exposed for the lie it was.

She then proceeds with a funny, false series of statements:

She speaks Finnish, she is very qualified, the woman who was supposed to get the gift has died…

However, she does get the job and there is a good chemistry between the editor of the magazine and the woman who has to google for basic information on her first article, for she is completely unqualified.

Eventually, the heroine would join a therapy group, much like Alcoholic Anonymous and there are other amusing scenes.

On her first meeting, Rebecca talks with effusion, ecstasy and exhilaration about the pleasure of shopping – so much so that she seems to turn around the poor people who have just boasted about their dry periods.

At one point, she would be forced to take all her recent, valuable acquisitions, including a bridesmaid dress, to donate for the poor and this is a tremendous blow for the helpless woman.

This is an entertaining comedy, if not one of the best ever made