This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

I wanted to like this movie, I really did, but for all the big names, it screams low budget. The underlying concept of addiction is what I fell for. I like the serendipitous elements, like she ends up working for "Successful Savings" by accident and manages to find a niche (and a handsome boss who falls for her), but I couldn't get into it. There are scenes that I can't even watch just because they're boring or pointless, namely the dinner and ball scenes. I think it's more the quality than the story line. Addiction to anything is a serious illness that can bleed into all areas of your life. They covered that well, but the acting comes across as fake and it's not even realistic. Yes, I get that it's a movie, and not meant to be real-life, but still. Even if they wanted to use big name actors, the quality makes it seem fake and corny rather than something people actually struggle with.

After having read some of the negative reviews for this film, I have noted that most people were upset, and rated this film harshly, because of it having been a poor film adaptation of the book. So, since I have not yet read the book this film is based on, I feel I should judge this film as a film in its own right. I do not in any way mean to discredit the reviews of others', through this review. As a book over film person, myself, I can understand their irritation.For a romantic comedy, this film was hugely entertaining. I've never known a character who could mess up so much, and charmingly: from her compulsive and mostly unbelievable lies, to how her friend's bridesmaid's dress manages to find its way into a charity shop. Isla Fisher's enthusiasm matched the characters: her excitement when visiting a store, or when hearing about a sale. It was just wow. The storyline in itself was also humorous: a young woman struggling to control her urge to 'shop till she drops' finds herself working for a financial savings journal. The irony. Her debt is only getting higher with that stress: only shopping can make her happy. I was surprised she didn't ask her parents for money sooner, considering her crazy spending habits. Equally, I'm surprised her parents didn't freak out or reprimand her behaviour. But outside of that, the film was wonderful- I'd watch with anyone over ten or eleven years of age, it may seem boring, particularly the bits when she's at work, to a younger child.

While the focus of the comedy, the plight of the shopaholic, merely uses downtown New York City as a pretty backdrop when it could easily be set in any western world major fashion center, it is the side plot, the heart of topsy turvy Manhattan, which brings out its charm. Although the plot seems nonsense fluff on the surface, the reason there are more than perhaps ten million city residents who can live in downtown Manahttan but wouldn't,is the truth behind the nonsense side plot of the movie- Folks wealthy enough to send one of their paid army of competent flunkies to arrange their next meal, along with other things, are the ones who become belligerent and testy on take out lines at places such as street hot dog vendors, while sales staff in the highest level world class boutiques might find register transactions declined because the customer is behind in his or her cash under the table rent for an apartment in which he or she is not an identified resident. .

Hi, I'm Vchimpanzee, and I'm a shopaholic. I can't pass a pretty golf shirt with horizontal stripes without wanting to buy it. If I see Converse Chuck Taylors in a color I don't have, I must have them.Okay, seriously, I refuse to buy golf shirts with designer names because they cost too much. And I wait for sales. And I won't buy high-top Chuck Taylors, and they must be solid colors rather than a pattern. Though I did once buy a pair I liked two sizes too small because that's the biggest they had. I didn't know the store had a women's section ... well, you get the idea. But unlike Rebecca, I always pay off my credit cards each month. But I do sort of know how she feels. I have a bunch of shirts I haven't worn yet.I didn't know who played Rebecca (Amy Adams, maybe? Actually, no) but she was pretty and very appealing, and the manic narration at the beginning really made this feel like a quality production. It is a kind of predictable romantic comedy but it's the kind of movie I enjoy.There is physical comedy which is entertaining. But most of what makes this movie funny is the jams Rebecca must get herself out of. She's very good at what she does, even if she has to learn everything there is to know about finance. She's kind of like Ugly Betty in that she's in over her head but capable, and she's working for a pleasant man who isn't respected by his superiors but appears a likely romantic partner. And there is a villain in the background--the man charged with collecting $9000 of her $16,000 debt, the largest single debt on any one credit card. Her clever techniques to get rid of what she calls a stalker ex-boyfriend work for a while, but sooner or later you figure she'll have to pay the piper. And it may happen in the worst possible way.Rebecca has some important lessons to learn, but she may just do that. She won't get everything she wants, but there are choices to be made.Several supporting players add something to this movie. The CW timed the airing of this movie perfectly, and I have to figure ABC blew a golden opportunity--Rebecca's best friend is The Bitch in Apartment 23! I had the chance to see enough of her to know I expect to like her show. Wendie Malick also has a brief but effective role as the one person who may get Rebecca out of her jam. No, not necessarily that jam. And John Lithgow is good as always as one of the top bosses, whose reaction to Rebecca's efforts is surprisingly positive. I didn't recognize Leslie Bibb, my favorite of the Good Christian Bitches (and she's not one of the good ones, but rather is dragged to church), but she is quite pretty and a kind of empty-headed schemer. I think I'm correct she got the job Rebecca really wanted.John Goodman and Joan Cusack both do a good job as Rebecca's parents. They're appealing in the sense that they offer a nice contrast to, and wouldn't fit in with, that snooty world Rebecca found herself in, but they're real people who wouldn't appreciate being thought of as hicks. On the other hand, they're not treated as the kind of complicated characters you might find in an Oscar-caliber production.I was ready to say this is Golden Globe caliber, but maybe not. I still had fun.