Confessions sometimes don’t need confessing
Generally when it comes to putting together a movie from a book it is broken down into moments and pasted together in the best way possible. Rarely do books successfully translate to film, sans Lord of the Rings, and Confessions of a Shopaholic isn’t any different.
The problem with the film is that it doesn’t know if wants Isla Fisher’s Rebecca Bloomwood to be cute and funny or a victim of her own rotten shopping disease. As an audience you can’t have both, because the character will ultimately end up very unlikable, which is the case here. Bloomwood is suppose to be this girl who is innocent to the world, who simply cannot stop shopping because her mother deprived her of it when she was younger. The pent up desire to buy-buy-buy exploded when she was old enough to hold a credit card. That’s where we find most of the movie, a girl on a shopping spree. The problem is that there is no arc to the story. No point where you can say,”She’s going to turn around, right about here!” Typically, in a story like this where self-revelation is the key, somewhere near the middle the character is discovered and her life begins a free-fall until rock bottom is hit. From that point, the road to redemption is opened up and the character begins to see life in a new light. Regretfully for Bloomwood, she keeps climbing a hill of dislike and distaste for most of the film and spends the last 15-20 minutes redeeming herself. You cannot redeem a character in that short amount of time. Bloomwood has built up too much equity of dislike to have it all erased and happy by the end. There simply isn’t enough time. So, what you get for most of the film is a cute and happy Bloomwood and a series of funny moments, which doesn’t represent the book at all. It’s a complete imbalance of story, which ultimately dooms our main character.
Who is to blame? Well, don’e blame Isla Fisher. The supporting star from Wedding Crashers did what she was told to do. She came out and put on a fantastic performance as the overspending queen of credit. She did her part to preserve what was written down in the script. Don’t blame her supporting case of Hugh Dancy, as Luke Brandon (her love interest), or the fun performances (though small) of John Goodman (who plays her dad) and Joan Cusack (who plays her mom); they played two lovable parents. Lest I forget the wonderful job of the Julie Hagerty, who doesn’t really have a definitive role, but brings the innocent spice of a quietly spoken secretary. So who is left? Well, there are two parties to blame here. The first party is the main culprit, that is the pair of writers that put this screenplay together. Like most comedies these days, they must have looked into the book and pulled the moments out of it and pasted them together the best way they could, which is a bad way of going from book to screen. Sure you can write down funny moments, but what you’re creating at that point is more sketch comedy then a progressive storyline. You must lay down a foundation for the story, show that you have a good beginning, excellent arc and a fantastic ending. On top that foundation, you put down your moments. Those are small peaks in the story that stand out and make it funny. For example, a movie that I’m reviewing later this evening, Dr. Strangelove, has a solid story laid down underneath a series of moments. You have the threat of nuclear war brought about by one madman who has the authority to send planes to bomb Russia. On that storyline, you have characters and situations presented on top that make the movie memorable, but because that foundation is there the moments never lose sight of the story itself. It’s simple story and plot point organization, something that wasn’t considered when this movie was being written.
Now, secondary blame must go to P.J. Hogan. As the director it’s your job to say this doesn’t work and that doesn’t work. Sure dealing with producers and talent can be a pain in the ass, but if you hold your ground and buy into the movie then that is your baby and you don’t want anything to go wrong with it. I’m not sure if Hogan didn’t buy into it or what, but this movie is a bit all over the place. It never gets solid footing until the crash of Bloomwood. At that point, you’ve just plainly lost your audience. So, yes, blame does go on Hogan and you might as well throw the producers in there who pull the purse strings.
Is the movie redeeming in any way? I don’t mean to be overly harsh, but this movie had potential. Hogan has proven that he can direct ‘chick-flicks’ (sorry, that’s what my wife considers them) and has done so in the past (My Best Friend’s Wedding and Muriel’s Wedding – to name a couple), so he should have nailed this one without a hitch. The movie does have its charms as Fisher does create a lovable person you just want to hug and once-in-awhile slap in the back of the head. The budding romance between her and Luke is somewhat strong, as both desire to improve their lives. These are good points and you shouldn’t be detoured by one man’s view of a movie to not see the film at all. Who knows, you might find it extremely redeeming and refreshing. Regardless, there are some moments in the movie where you feel good inside (again, the ending is particularly one of those moments).
Blu light special
Does the film look good on Blu-ray? Absolutely. Have I seen better? Yes, I have, but that doesn’t mean anything. It looks good in 1080p, but it doesn’t quite have the shine as past Blu-rays I have reviewed. Not to bring it up again, because I’m going to review it later, but Dr. Strangelove is a great example of a delicious film to HD transfer. Confessions of a Shopaholic has some low-lit moments (what would you expect from a New York setting) where there is some graininess to the Blu-ray, but not much. Overall, the video still looks gorgeous, but there are just a few moments. Now, as for sound, you get some fantastic soundtrack moments that come through a 7.1 set-up pretty well. The audio has been remastered for HD and it shows. I think the audio, while it doesn’t stand out like an action film’s audio, still is a clear improvement over the DVD standard.
As for features, here’s what you’re getting:
• Bloopers
• Deleted Scenes
• “Stuck with Each Other” Music Video by Shontelle Featuring Akon
• “Accessory” Music Video by Jordan Taylor
• “Takes Time to Love” Music Video by Trey Songz
• Behind the Fashion
o Wardrobe by Patricia Field
o Temple of Shopping
o The Green Scarf
o New York Fashion Central
o Sample Sale Madness
o Window Shopping