Dirty Confessions

I just saw Confessions of a Shopaholic, the latest chick-lit turned chick-flick box office pleaser featuring Isla Fisher, along with two gaggles of girls and two boyfriends (who seemed to enjoy themselves).

I read a couple reviews online, and one talked about how tasteless the movie is because it, "masqurades as a moral tale about living within one's means after devoting most of its running time to fetishizing the labels that landed the heroine in the red in the first place." (Melissa Anderson)  I, however, beg to differ.  Here's a couple reasons I think that was a fairly un-thought out statement:

1) Obviously this is a film trying to bank off the success of The Devil Wears Prada (and btw, this one's actually a bit better, but I could just be saying that because I really dislike Anne Hathaway), and so we expect to see prada, and gucci and Ives Sant Laurant (did I spell that right?  I don't care enough to hit search) etc.

2) There are people like this. I am not one of them, you are most likely not one of them, but they do exist, and you do find them in NYC.  If the movie had focused on her big spending excursions to Target and JCPenney... well, we wouldn't really care would we?  At least not unless it was a documentary... or an episode of MTV's True Life.  For us to believe it, she has to be buying all the big name crap.  

3) And besides, they really only talk about the designers; it isn't like every scene begins with a run down on who she's wearing. 

So I guess what I'm saying is that it was a pleasant way for me to unwind after a full day, and if you like slightly (OK, super) embarrassing rom-coms, then this may be a good one to see.  Also, the sound was pretty fantastic.  They use Amy Winehouse's Rehab song three times, once straight on, once as elevator music (! I almost screamed I was so excited) and lastly re-mixed with an upbeat tempo when our heroine is on her way to getting her life back on track- in essence when she is in the process of her rehab.  Rule of three and clever use of sound, who could ask for more?

Oh, and one more thing - the reason for the title of the post - I have to admit to a soft spot for the film because I myself have been afflicted by the lure of shops and credit.  I have it under control now, but I wonder if it has something to do with my liking the film because I completely believed her when she was talking about how shopping made her feel because I have been there.  Comedy's aren't funny unless without underlying truth of pain.

p.s. check out my side bar... I added a rating system to the movies I've seen column - it's out of a possible 5 !'s 

Born Romantic

(caution: Spoiler Ahead! But really, it's a romantic Comedy, what do you thinks gonna happen?)

This weekend I also watched Born Romantic, an English film with Craig Ferguson, my favorite late night host. Anyway, this was an impulse buy at the corner store near my apartment for $2...what can I say? I can't pass up an English Romantic Comedy with a Scottish actor!

The film focuses on three men and their love interests. Frankie (played by Ferguson), a somewhat crass but hopelessly romantic divorcee has the hots for "a classy lady"; Furgus (David Morrisey) has traveled to London in search of the woman he calls his soul mate...after leaving her at the altar eight years before; and Eddie (Jimi Misty, what a name!), an amateur thief who uses chloroform to rob people, ends up falling for one of his targets, a hypochondriac who dresses graves for a living.

Two things work to tie the plots together - the salsa lounge where they all meet up, and trying to give a deeper meaning to the whole thing is Jimmy, the cab driver who lost his wife a few years before. The best thing about this script is that they kept the cabby's speeches to a minimum and his bursts of insight short and sweet, relying more on the actor's ability to use subtle facial gestures to communicate with the audience. This allowed for him to sound intelligent and insightful, vs. the side character played by Ian Hart who goes into long speeches about how women can't actually feel love and other crap (by the end, this gets tied up nicely as well). Other than that, this film's script had something lacking, and really was carried by the ensemble cast, nice cinematography and the fact that they all had accents.

My absolute favorite scene is one in which Frankie sings "L.O.V.E." in total homage to Dean Martin, Sinatra and all those dudes - and he does a good job! The accent (American) sounds funny coming from him, as it always does, but it just adds to his lovable character.

Of course, everyone gets his girl in the end...and even the cab driver starts dancing with the foxy salsa instructor as the aperture closes around their faces.