Confessions of a Shopaholic (DVD)

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Her first column, written under the moniker "The Girl in the Green Scarf" (we're supposed to ignore the sexist language) becomes an international sensation, and that fame makes it hard for her to hide from her debt-ridden past. I'm not spoiling anything. The way this is structured, you know there'll be a moment of truth. Along the way, you hope that funny situations, clever lines, and interesting character interaction will put some meat on these fashion bones, but "Confessions of a Shopaholic" just doesn't rank with the heavyweights of romantic comedy, and for this there's enough blame to go around. There wasn't much chemistry between the romantic leads, and John Goodman and Joan Cusack seemed bizarre choices to play Rebecca's parents, with neither of the actors able to do much with their roles. And Alette (Kristin Scott Thomas) isn't nearly as fearsome as the top fashion dog in "The Devil Wears Prada" or "Ugly Betty." Even John Lithgow as a suit seems like he's going through the motions, and it's because of the lines and scenes, not his acting ability. Look for Lynn Redgrave to liven things up as a cheery drunk at a dance, and get ready to laugh your tokus off when the stars try a Latin dance and Rebecca gets a little slap-happy with her Spanish fan. But there aren't enough moments like that to make this more of a delight than a drudgery.

Video:
"Confessions of a Shopaholic" looked average to slightly above-average in Blu-ray, but the DVD compared to other standard-def discs looks great. Colors are as bright as saturated as the Blu-ray, and in controlled lighting and tight spaces (like the elevator) the level of detail is quite good. Skin tones are natural looking (though the star looks a little pale), and the black levels are sufficient. Where you notice the difference compared to Hi-Def is in the backgrounds, where on DVD there's a lot more grain and a little noise. All in all, though, for a DVD it's a great picture. "Confessions" is presented in 2.40:1 widescreen, "enhanced" for 16x9 television monitors.

Audio:
As with the Blu-ray, the DVD doesn't exactly make full use of the six channels, and ambient noise isn't exactly believable--though that's probably in the sound mix rather than the transfer. Dialogue is crisp and clear, and the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround does a nice job of spreading the sound around. There's a nice balance among the spoken lines, background noise/effects, and music. French and Spanish language tracks are included, with French and Spanish subtitles.

Extras:
There aren't a whole lot of extras, and when that happens you have to wonder if no one wanted to talk about it, if they knew that the final result wasn't exactly a masterpiece. There are even fewer bonus features than on the Blu-ray: roughly six and a half minutes of deleted scenes, two minutes of bloopers, and one music video, "Stuck with Each Other" by Shontelle and Akon. That's it, folks.

Bottom Line:
Isla Fisher gives it all she's got, and Hugh Dancy does his best, but the parts never come together to make "Confessions of a Shopaholic" a zinger of a romantic comedy.