Confessions of a Shopaholic

In this vapid movie based on a best-selling book, a chronic shopper gets hounded by debt collectors as she starts a new job as a journalist for a financial magazine. The filmmakers apparently hoped that people would get big laughs out of gregarious debt monsters during a recession—and that is highly unlikely. Isla Fisher plays Rebecca Bloomwood, the fashion-obsessed woman who shops well beyond her means. Fisher is appealing, but the role she is given here is beneath her talents. Hugh Dancy plays her boss and prospective love interest, and he seems uncomfortable in the part. John Lithgow, John Goodman, Joan Cusack and Kristin Scott Thomas are all given stale dialogue in supporting roles. Watching Fisher mug her way through this material is a difficult task.