Confessions of a Shopaholic - Movie Critique

by - October 28, 2018

Confessions of a Shopaholic is an American romantic comedy film which is a novel by Sophie Kinsella. It was directed by P. J. Hogan and the stars are lsla Fisher who portray the role of Rebecca Bloomwood, the shopaholic journalist, and Hugh Dancy as her boss in Dante West.

This story is about Rebecca Bloomwood who loves to shop to the point of drowning in debt and adding to her problem is her work in gardening magazine that doesn’t pay much for her 12 maxed out credit cards that holds a total of $16,000 debt. She have different ways of solving these problems, first she most likely love to be in denial saying that it is easier to keep spending money, second, she always tell different stories and excuses to Derek Smeath, the debt collector, in order for her to escape him, and lastly is to work to the city’s top fashion magazine, Alette, which is her dream job. Unfortunately, the assistant position that she want is already filled in. Successful Saving, a new financial magazine owned by the same company, has an editorial slot open and she was able to get the slot as an advice columnist which is very opposite to what she is experiencing right now. Her column become success and popular that makes her an instant celebrity called, "The Girl with the Green Scarf." But Derek Smeath is determined to reveal that she is living a lie because of her compulsive buying and increasing debt issues that destroyed her career and love life that eventually makes her to re-evaluate her life.

What I like in this movie is that we can get tons of life lessons that we can apply in ourselves. First, it teaches us not be an impulsive buyer. We need to control and discipline ourselves when it comes to the things that we want to buy. We should give priorities to our needs than wants. Our need is more important because these are the basic commodities that we need in order to survive. Our wants is just the result of our desire which don’t really matter the most. Our wants that needed to be fill is something that will only last for a moment which is a sign that will bring to no good. Second, it teaches us to budget our money. When we budget our money it can help us to aid our future problems and it can give us the feeling of peace of mind because we don’t have any money problems to solve. Third, it teaches us to let go the things that we don’t need. First thing that will help us to change our lifestyle, is to let go those habits that we know that brought a big negative impact in our life. Like in this movie, Rebecca sell her belongings like her clothes, shoes, bags, and accessories as a symbolism to start a new life and of course with a purpose to be able to pay her thousands of dollars debt. Fourth, it teaches us to live in accordance to our capabilities. It is very important to live the life that we can sustain because having a lavish life that we know that we can’t afford will only bring problems to ourselves. We should let go the unnecessary things and limit ourselves and learn to live with it in order to live a healthy and happy life. And lastly, it teaches us that we are not what we buy. We aren’t defined by the clothes or labels that we have because only ourselves is the only one that can truly define us. Instant gratification is not gratification at all so instead we should live a less materialistic life as possible as we can.

What I don’t like in this movie is that it is very explicit. Some of its content is not a good example especially for the viewers who are conservative enough and not yet legal. It contains so many sexual content like Rebecca wearing a short skirts and revealing dresses and also Suze only wearing a bra in bed with her fiancé who is top naked.  This kind of action is too liberated and not widely accept by others especially some people who don’t practice an unmarried couple sharing the same bed. It also shows violent actions like when Rebecca is fighting against a women over a pair of designer boots. This is not a good example because resorting to violence in order to get something will not make us win instead it only will bring scar to us physically, emotionally, and mentally. It also contains so many vulgar words which is very unlady like. Saying vulgar words is bad because we might offend people though it doesn’t apply to everyone nowadays. Nevertheless, we still need to learn to consider the feelings of others because there are still people who feel offended and uncomfortable when they are receiving offensive language and also for them it is a sign of rudeness. It also shared us two things that we shouldn’t do in dealing our problems and these are drinking and lying. Some people resort to drinking saying that they want to forget their problems and pain even for just one night. Which I think is an immature act because for me, if I have a problem I will try to solve it right away. I will man up and be mature enough to handle to it. And lastly, it contains so many lying tactics like when Rebecca trying to escape Derek saying so many excuses just to explain why she’s not available and why she can’t pay her debts. Lying will not bring you to good because it will be the number one reason why your relationship to other will fall off. They will not trust you anymore and we know that trust is now hard to bring back, that we have to earn it again from the very start but this time it will be harder than before.

Some of the parts of the movie somehow relates to my life. Like Rebecca, I love to shop. I love seeing new releases and arrivals of items to the point that sometimes I feel nervous and not comfortable enough thinking that the item might sold out right away. But at some point, I am not like Rebecca who would lavishly spend money to buy something that palpitates my heart because I still value the amount of money. I am raised to a family who give importance to money and my parents taught us to save money when we are still young. I will just buy the product if it won’t stop torturing my mind and if I think I really need it though sometimes I cheat because I just can’t resist my pleasure side. I am also like Rebecca who is sentimental to things. I can not easily let go something especially if that thing holds a value to my life, if I have it for so long, and if I received it to someone special. I am a type of girl who will keep all the things especially if I have the capabilities and also will let it go if I have to do so. But as a much as possible, I want to treasure all the things that I have and I’ve received. I am also a kind of person who will do everything to get what I want. Just like Rebecca, when she do everything just to be part of the Alette. Like her, I always have this sense of determination within me to achieve the goals that I’ve set to myself. I am goal-oriented person that’s why I always make sure that I will be able to achieve it, to have the feeling of satisfaction that I think that I deserved. I think being an achiever is a good thing because it can help me to be in a right path in order to have a bright future ahead of me. All people already experienced to lie and I will not deny that I also lie to someone sometimes. Though when I lie, I always make sure that the lies that I will say is white lies because I can’t attain to purely lie like what Rebecca always doing. I easily get guilty when I am lying to the point that sometimes I will think about the situation for the whole day and it will remain in my mind for such a long time. Also that is the reason why I am now avoiding to lie because I just can’t take the feeling that it gives to me everytime I’ve done it. And lastly, like Luke Brandon, I also don’t want to be define by the way how I dress and who my parents are because I want to be define by as I am and based on the things that I achieved it my life. I want people to recognize and know me based on my inner attitude and not because of the material things that I possess.

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