Synopsis
Struggling with her debilitating obsession with shopping and the sudden collapse of her income source, Rebecca Bloomwood unintentionally lands a job writing for a financial magazine after a drunken letter-mailing mix-up. Rebecca’s innovative comparisons and unconventional metaphors for economics grant her critical acclaim, public success, and the admiration of her supportive boss Luke Brandon. But as she draws closer to her ultimate goal of writing for the renowned fashion magazine Alette, she questions her true ambitions and must determine if overcoming her “shopaholic” condition will bring her real happiness.
Cast
Isla Fisher…Rebecca Bloomwood
Hugh Dancy…Luke Brandon
Krysten Ritter…Suze
Joan Cusack…Jane Bloomwood
John Goodman…Graham Bloomwood
John Lithgow…Edgar West
Kristin Scott Thomas…Alette Naylor
Leslie Bibb…Alicia Billington
Robert Stanton…Derek Smeath
Julie Hagerty…Hayley
Nick Cornish…Tarquin
Best character
Obviously, the best character is Rebecca, she’s the main character. She does make a lot of stupid mistakes, but I can’t help but love her.
Best supporting character
I wanted to say Joan Cusack’s character purely because I love her, but that would be doing a disservice to Suze. I love how different she and Rebecca are. Although the bridesmaid dress situation didn’t need to be as explosive as it was, if she’d asked Rebecca what happened she probably would have understood. They were both in the wrong though really.
Favourite scenes
*I do not own the rights to any videos in this post, no copyright infringement was intended. All rights go to the production studio*
I like to always include the opening scenes as they are usually a montage of some sort and who doesn’t love a good 2000s montage?
I find the mannequins in this film so creepy, but the moment where Rebecca finds the iconic green scarf is too good to not include.
I always forget that Krysten Ritter is in this film and it makes me laugh every time. Even though I watched Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23, I only think of her as Jessica Jones, so seeing her do comedy is always a little jarring.
Nothing is funnier than characters lying about something, like having a specific skill, and then having to do said skill in front of other people. Imagine trying to fake knowing a language like this. So funny.
The Finnish man that meets Rebecca doesn’t have his Finnish subtitled, but apparently (according to IMBD) what he was saying was: “Hi! So nice to meet another Finn in here! Ever since I’ve been here in Americ-” before Rebecca cuts him off by slapping him.
Watching the shopaholic’s anonymous leader (is that what they are called?) slowly lose it over everyone talking about buying stuff is so funny. Especially when the next time you see her she’s sitting on the floor in a shop surrounded by clothes.
The absolute chaos of this scene is what makes it so great. I especially love the parts where Rebecca is trying to justify buying things she doesn’t need – we’ve all done it at some point.
I love a good happy ending and this one is so cute. Every time I watch this film (this is possibly the third time) I forget just how much I love it. It’s definitely a bit crap, but that’s most of the fun.
Best quotes and one liners
PSA: I usually write this reviews as I’m watching the film, but because it was a casual viewing with my boyfriend I didn’t want to do that. So the quotes aren’t in chronological order. I will try my best to remember the order they are supposed to go in!
REBECCA: A man will never love you or treat you as well as a store. If a man doesn’t fit, you can’t exchange him seven days later for a gorgeous cashmere sweater. And a store always smells good. A store can awaken a lust for things you never even knew you needed.
CLERK: Declined.
REBECCA: Can you try again?
CLERK: Really Declined.
SUZE: [Rebecca pushes away bills] I’ll do this. It can’t be that bad. It’s just like a band-aid. It’s gonna be fine.[both gasp loudly]
SUZE: Bex! Two hundred dollars on Marc Jacobs underwear?
REBECCA: [pours the tequila] Oh, underwear is a basic, human, right.
SUZE: Seventy eight dollars on lavender honey?
REBECCA: I felt sorry for the shop assistant. She had a lazy eye. I didn’t know which way she was looking! I didn’t know if she was looking at me, it was so sad.
REBECCA: They said I was a valued customer. Now they send me hate mail.
TARQUIN: Why do so many of your excuses involve Finland?
REBECCA: Because nobody checks up on Finland, Tarkie.
REBECCA: You know that thing when you see someone cute and he smiles and your heart kind of goes like warm butter sliding down hot toast? Well that’s what it’s like when I see a store. Only it’s better.
REBECCA: Men like you are the reason I left Finland.
REBECCA: Don’t talk about Fluke.
SUZE: Why? What happened?
REBECCA: Alicia Bitch Longlegs is what happened.
SUZE: I hate her. Who is she?
REBECCA: Well, these cashmere gloves I *need* as it is winter, and I have… Hands.
LUKE: She’s not my girlfriend. She’s not you.
Most iconic outfit
You’d think in a film about shopping and fashion there would be too many great outfits to choose from. Well, this is from 2009 so some of the outfits are actually terrible. Gotta love 2000s fashion.
There are a few outfits I really like. Rebecca’s interview outfit, which is a purple long-sleeved dress, is actually very cute. Because she has red hair she looks like Daphne from Scooby Doo. This is funny because she’s in the live-action Scooby Doo film and they actually had her dye her hair blonde so she didn’t look like Daphne.
I also really liked her outfit for the ball as it was very understated, let’s ignore that she looked like a waiter though.
Best musical moment
I’m including this scene as a musical moment because otherwise, the favourite scenes section would be ridiculously long.
I watched this with my boyfriend and he said Rebecca dances how I would, I’m not sure whether to be offended or not because he isn’t wrong.
Final thoughts and fun facts
I’ve never actually read any of the Shopaholic books, but I think I own the first one. I’m definitely going to read it at some point as I’ve started my ‘best book to screen adaptations’ series again and I hope I could include it because I love this film.
The novel is set in London. The movie changed it to New York City to connect with an American audience. Following the success of Sex and the City, New York City was seen as a selling point to female audiences.
Reese Witherspoon, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Anne Hathaway, Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Kirsten Dunst, Katie Holmes, Amanda Bynes, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, and Lindsay Lohan were all considered for the role of Rebecca Bloomwood. Witherspoon turned it down because she thought it was too similar to her Legally Blonde role. I personally think the right person got the role, I couldn’t imagine anyone but Isla Fisher as Rebecca Bloomwood.
At the end, Rebecca Bloomwood pays off her entire debt in coins, saying that she was doing it in the most inconvenient way possible. In real life, Derek Smeath could have refused to accept it. While coins are legal tender within the Federal Reserve System, no law requires a merchant or anyone else to accept them. However, if he had refused payment, the debt would legally be considered paid off.
Confessions of a Shopaholic is what I would consider a ‘Sunday film’. This probably won’t make sense to anyone as I think I’m the only person to use this phrase. What I mean by this is that it’s an easy-watching, cosy film that feels like a Sunday. This is probably because growing up, films were always shown on TV on Sundays.
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Like this post? Why not read this one too: Re-Watch Review: The Summer I Turned Pretty S1-EP2
[…] Like this post? Why not read this one too: Re-Watch Review: Confessions of a Shopaholic […]
I know this is an old post, but I a learning Finnish and was thrilled to hear it in Confessions of a Shopaholic. The sources on the internet, including yours, seem inaccurate.
For instance the Finnish man says two things before Rebecca slaps him and he doesn’t say anything about America.
I hear something more along the lines of:
…It is (Onpa) nice/funny (hauska) to see (unsure of the verb/word here) another Finn (suomalainen) here (täällä). Isn’t it? (Entä se?)
Then Rebecca says some weird merger of Dutch (I think) “Ja” (Yes) and German “Nein” (No)…
Then he says:
I (Mulla) miss/ I long for (I assume, I cannot hear the actual word) a sauna and a cinnamon bun (korvapuusti), how about you? (entä sulla?)
Only then does Rebecca slap him.
Then later there is an ‘inside joke’:
“Mr Brandon. We Scandinavians like her…a lot”
Finland is Nordic not Scandinavian…