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Confessions of a Shopaholic

Movie Grade: D-

DVD Features Grade: D

Overall Grade: D

When I popped this DVD in I thought I was getting ready to watch the poor man's Devil Wears Prada, but as it turns out there are significant differences between the two; sadly that does not bode well for Confessions of a Shopaholic. Prada was smart, stylish, insightful and well acted where as Confessions is ultimately silly, childish, needlessly over the top and only competently executed.

I'm sure it won't be a surprise to learn that I haven't read this popular book series as it is clearly aimed at young woman with delusions of credit card grandeur, but I should mention it just to point out that I can't really compare the two.

The film as it stands on it's own is the journey of a little girl turned half grown-up trying to make her way in the world while buying up as much of it as possible along the way. Of course the insessent need to buy dresses and shoes and bags is really only to fill the void in her life that would normally be filled by a man. Not exactly a modern woman's take on things but I assume there are a lot of women out there who somehow identify with this.

When Rebecca Bloomfield, (Isla Fisher) former Gardening Magazine writer accidentally applies for a job at a Finance Magazine she not only discovers a hidden talent for simplifying hard core economics to basic terms that the common man can comprehend, she also meets the man of her dreams.

All of the basic romantic comedy elements are here and the plot and characters are really so predictable I don't see the need to expound on them much further than just laying them out there. Rebecca is the under achiever who finally gets her chance to prove how wonderful she is in her own quirky way thanks to the successful man who sees something special in her. John Goodman and Joan Cusack are the supporting wacky parents that stand by her regardless of her mistakes, Krysten Ritter is the best friend who is always supportive and caring, Leslie Bibb is the hot and sexy girl who got her job and tries to steal her man… etc. etc. If you sit down to watch this movie you will realize you've seen it a dozen times before and each time it was probably done a bit better than it is here.

The one shining light in this dismal affair is our male lead, Hugh Dancy. Even though he was given next to nothing to work with, he still manages to come off charming and charismatic in a way that almost makes you forgive his character for his own clichéd-ness. Another ray of hope comes from Stephen Guarino from Logos' Big Gay Sketch Show

who, with limited screen time and a completely one dimensional role, manages to create something more memorable for audiences to latch onto than I'm sure was initially on the page.

Special Features on the 2 Disc DVD set (the second disc being a Digital Copy in case for some reason you see the need to watch this on your i pod, i phone, or other i torture devices) are so limited they might as well have been left out. There is a blooper reel that doesn't have anything funny on it, some deleted scenes that were clearly just deleted for the sake of time as they would have fit right in with everything else in the film and a music video that's completely irrelevant.

The one shocking thing about the deleted scenes was that one of my favorite actresses, Stephanie March from TV's Law & Order: SVU is in one of them as a store manager who hires and then fires Rebecca. As I said it could have easily fit in with the rest of the movie and definitely would have helped my opinion of it just having her in there. Who leaves Stephanie March on the cutting room floor? I mean, seriously that's just short sighted.

Overall this movie was obviously not my cup of tea and I doubt many would disagree. There were some great actors in here that I think must have been caught up in the Devil Wears Prada hype who I'm sure realized afterwards this might not have been the best project to sign on to.

Movie Grade: D-

DVD Features Grade: D

Overall Grade: D