Confessions of a Shopaholic

***Spoiler Alert... if you are going to see the movie, don't read this post***

I read the entire series of Confessions of a Shopaholic. There are five books total and I love everyone of them. I fell in love with the zany, shopping obsessed Rebecca Bloomwood and was with her through shopping and debt and love, marriage, and baby. The books were funny and well written and helped you really connect with the characters. I would recommend the books to anyone. The movie, however, was a different story.

I was so looking forward to the movie so I could see the book in living color on the movie screen. I couldn't wait to see the characters faces and how they would bring the story to life. I ended up totally disappointed by the movie. I don't know if I would've liked it had I not read the books because I wouldn't have had anything to base my opinion on but I really don't think I would've liked it anyway.

The movie was very jumpy. The way it jumped from scene to scene made it confusing and made the story seem incoherent. There was no introduction or development of characters. They would just all of a sudden be in a scene and then gone again. The casting of the movie was terrible! John Goodman and Joan Cusak for Becky's parents?! Totally wrong. And Suze, Becky's best friend, was awful as well. Throughout the books it was mentioned several times that Suze had long, blond hair. In the movie her hair was black. And she wasn't as supportive of a friend as she was in the book either. And don't even get me started on the actor who played Luke. In the book Luke was tall dark and handsome. He was powerful and respected. He owned his own PR firm and was wealthy. The movie Luke was thin and scraggly and was the editor of a magazine. Seriously, they completely butchered the character!

Then there is Rebecca. In the book she was definitely flighty and definitely spent too much money but she was also smart and compassionate and funny. I think the movie made her more into a materialistic ditz. You didn't get the compassion she expressed for her parents and for Suze and the hilarious letters that she wrote to her debtors. And, really, in the movie, she didn't shop all that much either. She got herself into a crazy scenario or two but she only shopped once or twice. And the Rebecca Bloomwood that I know would have never gone to a Shopaholics Anonymous meeting!

Other than the terrible characters, the rest of the movie was just goofy. There were talking mannequins and an unnecessary trip to Miami, an unnamed gay receptionist, and lots of scenes that had nothing to do with the book. The movie took place in New York with all American actors. Rebecca Bloomwood is supposed to be an English girl living in London! I really can't believe the book's author allowed the movie to go so far away from what she had written. It is sad really. She had great stories and great characters and they just got ripped to shreds in a movie that wasn't worth the $7 I paid to see it.

If you're really bored, go see it and let me know what you think. It would be interesting to know what someone with no prior opinion of the story thinks. But, don't say I didn't warn you!