Confessions of a Shopaholic

Gleefully eviscerating Sophie Kinsella's bestselling novel of the same name, Confessions of a Shopaholic gamely declares itself recession-proof, wrapping done-to-death chick flick clichés in a morality tale that's blissfully amoral.

Journalist Rebecca Bloomwood, played by corkscrew-curled, pert-faced Isla Fisher, has racked up an impressive $16,000 in consumer debt, thanks to her penchant for designer labels and the call of the brand spanking new. Her wardrobe befits the fashion writer she dreams of becoming, but her puny salary can't keep up, and now the debt collectors have come a-calling. Ever the optimist, Becky hides her bills in a drawer and keeps on stalking sample sales in the hopes that her wardrobe will help her win a coveted position as a fashion writer for a top magazine.

Becky has set her sights on Alette, a Vogue-style publication, and decides to get her foot in the publisher's door by interviewing for a position at Alette's dowdy sister magazine Smart Savings. Despite her complete lack of experience in finance, Becky charms Smart Savings's editor-in-chief Luke Brandon (Hugh Dancy), a bashfully rumpled pretty boy with the sexiest of English accents, and begins serving up common-sense advice on financial matters—advice that she certainly isn't following in her real life.

Fisher plays Becky as a bird-of-paradise in a sea of gray executives, and it's impossible to avoid falling for her. At every turn Fisher's lively performance is full of comic surprises, and she can fill her soft brown eyes with liquid contrition on an as-needed basis. When she tells the first lie of the film, to get a debt collector off the phone, the movie positions her dishonesty as just a quirk in her cutely vivacious personality.

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