Confessions of a Shopaholic DVD Review – Isla Fisher is a new Lucille Ball

I’m a huge fan of all the Sophie Kinsella books, and "Confessions of a Shopaholic" is based on her book by the same name. It’s about a woman named Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher – pronounced "I-la")) who LOVES to shop.

There are more books in the series, including "Shopaholic Ties the Knot," "Shopaholic & Sister," "Shopaholic Takes Manhattan," and "Shopaholic & Baby," so I’m really, really (picture me in my most persistent voice here) hoping they make more of these movies, with Isla Fisher in the lead role. She’s so sweet and funny, and such a great comedic actress. She’s a Lucille Ball for the new age.

Like many of us, Rebecca Bloomwood loves to shop. But like many of us, she’s taken shopping to a new extreme — maxing out her credit cards, avoiding calls from debt collectors, and dreading the mailman, who surely will bring a stack of new bills every day.

Rebecca dreams of working at a top fashion magazine, but can’t quite seem to get her foot in the door there. She even snags an interview with the magazine, but when she gets there, the position has already been filled. So instead, she ends up interviewing with another magazine in the company, "Successful Saving." You can see the irony of shopaholic Rebecca getting a job at a savings magazine.

But the boss, Luke Brandon (Hugh Dancy), loves her first proposal – helping people save money by comparing it to the way women shop for shoes. In fact, Luke gives her an ongoing column with her own mysterious byline, "The Girl in the Green Scarf." There’s a funny story where that byline comes from, but you’ll have to see the movie for it!

Luke ends up being a romantic interest for Rebecca, but despite attending shopaholic meetings, her debt continues to grow and threatens to destroy both her love life AND her career. But as you might expect, Rebecca gets a lightbulb moment and just might have the answer to getting her life together.

Hugh Dancy is charming, and the supporting cast is great, too. Krysten Ritter plays Suze, Rebecca’s best friend with whom she shares an apartment. Joan Cusack and John Goodman play Rebecca’s loving, working-class parents. And Leslie Bibb plays Alicia Billington, a social-climbing woman who’s also interested in Luke.

And there are some awesome actors on the sidelines, including Lynn Redgrave, who plays a drunken lady at a ball; Kristin Scott Thomas, the editor of the fashion mag; John Lithgow, a business colleague of Luke’s; Wendie Malick, the leader of the shopaholics group; Christine Ebersole, a TV show host; and Julie Hagerty (remember her from "Airplane!"?), who plays Luke’s assistant.

All of this fun casting adds special touches to the movie, but mainly, it’s the charming personality and lively antics of Isla Fisher who, as mentioned, is like a new Lucille Ball with her physical comedy. She runs into doors, drops trays full of food, unleashes a throng of beads on the floor, falls into people, and all sorts of other fun pratfalls that not every actress can pull off.

"Confessions of a Shopaholic" is definitely a chick-flick, and I loved it! Also, it’s rated PG, so there’s nothing too objectionable for girls. I took my 11-year-old daughter and her friend, and they both loved it, too. If you like romantic, girlie movies, I definitely recommend it!

DVD Bonus Features:

• Bloopers
• Deleted Scenes
• Music Video: "Stuck With Each Other" by Shontelle featuring Akon

Photo credit: Robert Zuckerman ©Touchstone Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer, Inc. All Rights Reserved.