Los Angeles Times
"CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC is a cleverly constructed catwalk of a romantic comedy that's a lot like the perfect outfit..." 02/13/2009Chicago Sun-Times
"It glories in its silliness, and the actors are permitted the sort of goofy acting that distinguished screwball comedy....At the center of this maelstrom is a genuinely funny comedienne named Isla Fisher..." 02/13/2009 Variety
"Fisher is alive to everything Rebecca might be feeling or wanting at a given moment while also, in the tradition of romantic-comedy greats such as Carole Lombard, Katherine Hepburn and Lucille Ball, being able to stride imperturbably through any disaster and come out on top." 02/12/2009 Wall Street Journal
"Ms. Fisher has a few moments worthy of her abundant comedic gifts...and the cast includes Hugh Dancy, who is calm and engaging as the editor of a financial magazine..." 02/13/2009 Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "[With] the delightful Fisher, a goofily appealing presence who -- as shown in a hilarious dance routine that sees her flirting coquettishly with an antique fan -- also happens to be a gifted physical comedienne." 03/01/2009 Entertainment Weekly
"From its talking store-window mannequins to its sneaky debauched heroine, the movie is romantic-comedy fizz, but it's fizz that bubbles like champagne." -- Grade: A- 02/20/2009 ReelViews 5 of 10
It has been a long time since I came as close to walking out of a movie as I did with Confessions of a Shopaholic. Not only did I find this production to be irritating, unfunny, and lacking in entertainment value, but I found its underlying slavishness to a culture of consumption to be morally repugnant...My hatred of this movie runs true and deep. It's not a harmless fairy tale or a carefree screwball comedy. It's a bold and shameless expression of a warped and rotted "me first" culture in which people spend beyond their means then turn around and call themselves victims. Who is the villain in this movie? A debt collector, not the thoughtless bimbo who we're supposed to be rooting for. I'm sure there will be audience members who identify with Isla Fisher's bubble-brained Rebecca Bloomwood. They won't see her as a symptom of a societal disease...On a high level, Confessions of a Shopaholic is trying to fuse The Devil Wears Prada with Legally Blonde, but it lacks the darkly satirical edge of the former and the frothy innocence of the latter. It's a misbegotten offspring that sticks to the bottom of the shoe with the tenacity and stench of a dog turd. I expected more from P.J. Hogan, whose previous features include the heartfelt Muriel's Wedding and the delicious My Best Friend's Wedding. The fact that this movie is based on a pair of books may be an excuse, but it's not a good one...Confessions of a Shopaholic takes time out to poke fun at addiction recovery groups, but not in a way that's clever or incisive. I'd be the first to acknowledge that there's room for parody here, but this approach is lazy...About the only positive thing I can say about the film is that the actors mostly do competent jobs, although Fisher occasionally oversells the bubbly nature of her character and Kristen Scott Thomas appears to be aping Meryl Streep from The Devil Wears Prada. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 7 of 10
I like "Confessions of a Shopaholic" about as much as I disliked "Sex and the City." Both are about clueless women, but this one knows it. "SATC" is about women searching for love in most of the wrong places, and "Shopaholic" is about a woman searching for happiness in the places that are absolutely right for her: Prada, Gucci, Macy's, Barneys, Saks and on down the avenue...There is not a single unanticipated blip in the story arc. But here's what sort of redeems it: It glories in its silliness, and the actors are permitted the sort of goofy acting that distinguished screwball comedy. We get double takes, slow burns, pratfalls, exploding clothes wardrobes, dropped trays, tear-away dresses, missing maids of honor, overnight fame, public disgrace and not, amazingly, a single obnoxious cat or dog...At the center of this maelstrom is a genuinely funny comedienne named Isla Fisher. She reminds me of Lucille Ball, and not only because she's a redhead. She does one of the most difficult things any actress can do, which is physical comedy: Walk into doors, drop trays, fall into people, go ass over teakettle. She plays a Perfect Ditz in the sense of the Perfect Storm, carrying all before her. Give her a fan and 20 seconds of tango lessons, and get off the floor...It is to the credit of the director, P.J. Hogan of "My Best Friend's Wedding," that he gives Fisher freedom and yet modulates it, so her character's earnest desire to please shines through. It was the same on "I Love Lucy." Lucy wasn't a klutz because she was trying to look funny. She was a klutz because she was trying not to...Look. "Confessions of a Shopaholic" is no masterpiece. But it's funny, Isla Fisher is a joy, and -- of supreme importance -- it is more entertaining to a viewer with absolutely no eagerness to see it (like me) than "Sex and the City" was. Also, no movie can be all bad where the heroine attends a Shopaholics Anonymous meeting and meets a former Chicago Bulls star. - Roger Ebert
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