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Category:    Home > Reviews > Comedy > Confessions Of A Shopaholic (2009/Disney Blu-ray + DVD/both w/Digital Copy)

Confessions Of A Shopaholic (2009/Disney Blu-ray + DVD/both w/Digital Copy)

 

Picture: B+/B-     Sound: B+/B-     Extras: C     Film: C+

 

 

I will start off by saying, it wasn’t bad for a girl movie.  Confessions of a Shopaholic stars Isla Fisher and is probably the only reason the film works.  Isla Fisher stole our hearts and every scene she was in, in Wedding Crashers.  She is amazing to look at and I am thinking an extremely underrated talent.  With all of this said, she did not turn Confessions of a Shopaholic into an Academy Award Winner, but made it bearable.  When comparing this film to such other ‘yawners’ as Katherine Heigl’s 27 Dresses or Jennifer Garner’s Ghosts of Girlfriend’s Past this film wasn’t so bad.  It was light, airy, and overall a fun time as I had a chuckle here and there.  Did I mention Isla Fisher is amazing to look at?

 

Confessions of a Shopaholic stars Isla Fisher as Rebecca Bloomwood, a struggling journalist with a (you guessed it) shopping problem.  As she maxes out her credit cards she clamors top get a job at the very exclusive fashion magazine Alette; but sadly for Rebecca the position has just been filled by a conniving, leggy blonde (Leslie Bibb).  In a ‘if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em’ way Rebecca figures she can eventually swing her way into Alette if she works her way up in a different branch of the expanding magazine empire that is Alette.

 

Well let’s just say Rebecca’s attempt to get a job doesn’t go so well at first and then in a drunken fit, with her friend Suze (Krysten Ritter), she inadvertently mixes up an angry letter to editor to Successful Saving with a spec article to Alette.  Long story short, the tequila stupor helped Rebecca land a job at the financial magazine as her analogy between finance and shopping somehow (rolls eyes) impressed the big wigs.  At first her article makes a huge splash, but it won’t be that easy for her as her shopping problem stands to threaten her job, love life, and even friendships.  The film isn’t all too deep, but it is entertaining and did I mention Isla Fisher is amazing to look at?

 

The picture and sound on this Blu-ray release are much improved over the DVD which is only half as good.  The Blu-ray’s picture looks amazing as it is bright, colorful, glossy, crisp, and just overall well presented.  The 1080p High Definition 2.40 X 1 image leaps from the screen like a girl at a Prada dress sale as each moment is so pristine it makes you wonder why better films get the short end of the stick.  The sound is equally impressive in its English 5.1 DTS-HD (48kHz/24-bit) MA (Master Audio) lossless surround track that makes the film sound awesome even though it isn’t everything Blu-ray could be (i.e. with an action flick and such).  The rear speakers are fully utilized with constant background noises and music; whereas the fronts beautifully project the bulk of the crisp dialogue.

 

The picture quality on the DVD, as previously mentioned, does not hold up at all next to the Blu-ray.  The colors are noticeably flat, with weaker blacks, and a no where near as crisp image.  The sound also falls somewhat flat (though passable) as the speaker range is not quite as good and it lacks the full immersion effect that the Blu-ray offers.

 

The extras on the DVD and Blu-ray are lackluster and barely worth watching as they feature a bunch of Behind-the-Scenes featurettes on Wardrobe, Temple of Shopping, The Green Scarf, Sample Sale Madness, Window Shopping and New York Fashion Central.  Collectively the featurettes run about 2-3 minutes each and are extremely useless and annoying.  Maybe girls who are enthralled with the trivialities of Sex and the City will fall head over feet for these featurettes, but I simply felt they were useless blurbs.  There is also a collection of Deleted Scenes that neither add nor detract from the film, some Bloopers that are actually quite funny, and some Music Videos that feature the likes of Shontelle with Akon and Jordyn Taylor among others.

 

The film was cute and worth a watch, but nothing besides that. Did I mention Isla Fisher is nice to look at?

 

 

-   Michael P. Dougherty II


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