Confessions of a Shopaholic: A Charming Romantic Comedy About Isla Fisher Worth Taking to Checkout | film

TThe year was 2009. The global economy was in the final throes of the worst financial crisis since World War II, and Isla Fisher, wearing an American accent and a shopaholic, played a financially illiterate New Yorker with more than $16,000 in personal debt; The auburn-haired Marie Antoinette is a late thinker.

“Confessions of a Shopaholic” received two stars from this outlet when it was released. The film, based on Sophie Kinsella’s novel series of the same name and directed by Australian director PJ Hogan, was doomed from the start. Financially distressed audiences weren’t exactly chomping at the bit to watch a plucky fashion designer make terrible spending decisions for 104 minutes. It was also a time when the dominance of romcoms at the box office was coming to an end, replaced by a new era of less saturated, action-packed superhero franchises. But while Confessions of a Shopaholic isn’t exactly a groundbreaking film, it’s charming now — and arguably ahead of its time in its depiction of massive personal debt.

The plot of the film is simple enough: Rebecca (Fisher) is a down-on-his-luck, materialistic single girl living in the Big Apple, who dreams of working at a fashion magazine. She is supported by the angels of her best friend, Suze (Krysten Ritter), and her parents (Joan Cusack and John Goodman), whose excessive frugality inadvertently causes Rebecca’s extreme shopping habits. All the while, Rebecca is evading Javert’s debt collector, Derek Smith (Robert Stanton).

In an ironic twist, Rebecca becomes a financial advice columnist – under the moniker “The Girl in the Green Scarf” – and clearly gains the affection of her handsome boss-turned-boyfriend Luke (Hugh Dancy). There’s also a gorgeous blonde rival to this love story (Leslie Bibb) — because every romcom protagonist is He should You have an enemy with a different hair color.

Rebecca makes herself the heroine of a quirky romantic comedy: she’s got the eclectic, chic Carrie Bradshaw-type bones, and the lovable Kimmy Schmidt cringe. It also seems as if the film can’t decide whether it wants to revel in its own camp sensibilities or ask its audience to seriously empathize with its subject; It’s not quite saccharine and it’s not quite grounded. There are talking, siren-like mannequins who tempt Rebecca into overspending and cartoonish physical gags aplenty – but there’s also a dramatic battle between Rebecca and Suze that’s far sadder than anything involving a man.

But for many young girls, myself included, Confessions of a Shopaholic introduced a lifelong bittersweet fantasy into our young, impressionable lives: the allure of working in the glamorous world of print media. It’s no secret that journalism is one of the top career choices for women in rom-coms, and the 2000s were particularly full of them: Suddenly 30, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The Devil Wears Prada and Bridget Jones’s Diary, among others. Each of these magazines may have inspired future journalists, but it was Confessions of a Shopaholic that made the job feel like… Hazar. Although it was messy, full of repetition, and rife with nepotism (again, really ahead of its time!)

And his warning about accumulating thousands of dollars in credit card debt is well and truly relevant today: Generation Z and Millennials have some of the highest levels of debt of older generations, much of it stemming from increased access to buy now, pay later services. One can easily imagine a modern-day Rebecca, desperately stalking the Instagram profiles of her favorite fashion celebrities and buying expensive used designer clothes on Depop. The Devil Wears Prada got a sequel this year — but if ever there was a rom-com set in the world of media and fashion that needed a sequel, it’s this one.

Confessions of a Shopaholic isn’t as well-liked as her peers, which is unfortunate but understandable. It may not have the polish of The Devil Wears Prada nor the timeless charm of Bridget Jones’s Diary but it’s cute and arguably more relevant now than when it was released. And even if the (slightly) outdated humor isn’t your thing, Fisher’s extremely luxurious wardrobe makes it worth a rewatch.

• Confessions of a Shopaholic is available to stream on Disney+ in Australia, the UK and the US. You can find more recommendations on what to stream in Australia here