‘Shopaholic’ is Fantastical Director P.J. Hogan’s Sympathetic Ode to the American Consumer

Ever since P.J. Hogan released his debut feature film, Muriel’s Wedding in 1994, he has made films sporadically, but the few films he has directed are full of his strikingly humane character studies told through Hogan’s fantastical narrative and visual style. Hogan’s latest film, Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) contains all of the quirky characters and over-the-top farces that are Hogan’s trademarks and it’s these trademarks that lift Shopaholic above the usually unimaginative romantic comedy subgenre.

It’s no secret that I’m a P.J. Hogan fan. One characteristic of Australian director Hogan’s films that stands out the most is their feverish watchability: I could watch his films repeatedly and never get tired of them. I also enjoy putting the pieces that link Hogan’s films together and how he uses the similar parts (whether it is characters he’s used before or sentiments) in new ways to fit the story that he’s telling in each of his films. Despite seeing ads for Shopaholic hearing that it was along the lines of The Devil Wears Prada, Shopaholic fell under my radar. I wasn’t even aware that Hogan directed the film. I just recently watched Shopaholic with the knowledge that Hogan is very selective of which films he directs. I was also curious to see Hogan’s take on the modern romantic comedy subgenre. He’s directed romantic comedies before, the most famous one being My Best Friend’s Wedding, but that film was released in 1997 and it didn’t reek of the formulaic shlock that is contemporary romantic comedy. Best Friend’s is also more of a black comedy than a traditional romantic comedy. That’s where Shopaholic is different than Best Friend’s because it is more of a fluffy romantic comedy that shares similarities to the Jennifer Lopez vehicles and Kate Hudson comedies, yet maintains some of Hogan’s eccentricities.

Shopaholic is based on Sophia Kinsella’s series of novels featuring the titular character Rebecca Bloomwood. Rebecca is Hogan’s latest heroine who has to face the harsh realities of the world. Rebecca is portrayed by Australian actress Isla Fisher (who dons a nondescript, but convincing American accent for Shopaholic) (Wedding Crashers, Definitely, Maybe). Fisher’s redheaded beauty is striking to say the least, however she’s not beautiful in a sultry Rita Hayworth way, but pretty in a “turn the world on with her smile” Mary Tyler Moore way. Rebecca works as a staff writer at a lowly newspaper with her best friend and roommate. Rebecca dreams of working for high-end fashion magazine Alette run by Alette Naylor (played with regal iciness by Kristin Scott Thomas). Of course this sounds like the premise for The Devil Wears Prada, and although Shopholic is quite similar to Prada, the main character Rebecca is made to feel awkward and lowly, while Anne Hathaway’s main character in Prada seems destined to make her transformation into a show-stopping fashionista. Fisher portrays Rebecca in a way that conveys her compulsive shopping as a means to desperately fit in. Rebecca’s love interest is the Anderson Cooper-like Brit Luke Donovan (Hugh Dancy), who resembles the pompous Cooper all the way down to the socialite mother. Rebecca’s mishaps threaten her future with Luke and lead to her numerous humiliations. Rebecca is also a woman who has countless credit cards and is in debt up to her ears.

As a recent college graduate in search of a career job and success, I can relate to what Rebecca is experiencing. The real world is often a hard pill to swallow, especially when you don’t have money or beauty or money in Rebecca’s case. Money and beauty are not interchangeable—because money gives a person power even if they lack beauty—but money and beauty are intimately connected and work as a superpower when combined. Just as he did in his previous films, Hogan shows Rebecca’s fear of responsibility, which is integral to adulthood. Rebecca connects excessive consumerism with her childhood need to fit in and like Peter Pan, never really grew up; retail stores are Rebecca’s Neverland. (Hogan also helmed the 2003 live-action version Peter Pan). The fact that Hogan makes Rebecca the everyday girl who likes to shop obsessively in a suffering American economy shows once again that Hogan is very adept at injecting humanity into his films. Despite depicting Rebecca’s shopping addiction as a disease, Hogan also uses consumerism as a way to bring people together: everyone is not so different because people don’t have to purchase products to be “shopaholics” at heart. From the participants of Rebecca’s Shopaholics Anonymous group to the homeless lady who sings Harry Nilsson’s “Coconut” with her “shopping cart” in tow, everyone shares the human desire to consume attractive things. It’s the power of capitalism and capitalism is what the United States of America was built on.

Shopping is a form of escapism for Rebecca, which she admits and she often spends money on products she doesn’t need when she’s trying to avoid something that scares her. This is a childish tendency that is rooted in Rebecca’s need to feel worthy in a world that’s not so kind to those people without money. This childish tendency is a tendency that most people can relate to. Rebecca had an “unconditional love” for shopping: she never asked for the products she bought to love her back. These words mirror what Kathy Bates said in Hogan’s unconventional 2002 comedy, Unconditional Love. It’s another instance of there being a common thread linking Hogan’s films together.

Being what you are and what you want to be is the sentiment at work in Shopaholic. There’s a point in the film when someone asks “Who is the real Rebecca?” Rebecca wants to be a “rich girl” as her Gwen Stefani ringtone indicates, but she isn’t. She deals with her lack of cash flow by spending money she doesn’t have to fit the physical image of a rich girl clad in designer clothes. Hogan tackled this same topic of wanting to be what you aren’t in Muriel’s Wedding. Muriel wanted to be a beautiful, loved bride, but by attempting to achieve that goal, she wasn’t being herself and she instead lied to herself and others. Hogan’s heroines Julianne Potter from Best Friend’s, Muriel Heslop from Muriel’s and Rebecca Bloomwood from Shopaholic all lived lies and the only way to set them free was to admit the truth. Hogan makes sure his characters realize that even though they may feel “unloved, unnoticed” and “unwanted” (from Unconditional Love), pretending to be something they’re not is not the way to become loved, noticed and wanted. Hogan thinks that the world should accept their heroines as they are.

There are certain staples of Hogan’s films that are not at work in Shopaholic. As decent as Shopaholic is, if it contained more of the elements commonly found in P.J. Hogan’s films such as companionship and humiliation, Shopaholic would be a much stronger film. A strong sense of companionship is what’s missing from Shopaholic. Rebecca’s roommate and best friend Suze exists as only a prop; Suze could qualify as the “sidekick” requisite for a romantic comedy, but she barely fulfills that role. Companionship is such an integral part of Hogan’s films, namely Unconditional Love and Muriel’s Wedding; the natural need to share an experience with a fellow human. Shopaholic is a film that succeeds mostly because of great comic timing and kookiness on all the actors present, as well Hogan’s uniting of human through common interest a la Robert Altman. The unity displayed during the Shopaholic Anonymous meetings and the actual shopping scenes. Shopaholic makes crystal-clear that millions of people love to shop.

As he does in most of his films, Hogan includes pop culture references throughout Shopaholic. The male receptionist at the business building that houses companies including Alette magazine gives Rebecca some sound advice about reaching her goal of working for Alette by using a well-known pop culture reference commonly used to describe a person exploring an unknown land. The receptionist tells Rebecca that “Alette may be Emerald City, but Successful Saving may be your yellow brick road.” It’s a classic use of L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz metaphor. Hogan not only channels L. Frank Baum fairy tales in Shopaholic, but he also brings to mind animated Disney classics. The mannequins that Rebecca sees move and talk in the store windows are indicative of Hogan’s knack for the fantastical. Just as Disney animated films like, Beauty and the Beast are full of inanimate objects come-to-life, Hogan knows the effectiveness of giving life to inanimate objects. Instead of everything played straight, the enlivened mannequins add a sense of surrealism that lends itself well to children and adults alike. Cinderella without the talking mice and seamstress birds would just be a woman living amongst rodents and birds swatting around her head like in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, so the talking mannequins give an edge to Shopaholic over other romantic comedies. It’s no coincidence that Shopaholic was produced by Disney-owned Touchstone Pictures.

Confessions of a Shopaholic is a romantic comedy and some might call it fluff, but it’s one of the more entertaining romantic comedies. The film is as imaginative as the romantic comedy category allows. If you’re a fan of P.J. Hogan’s previous films, you’ll find something to love about Shopaholic even if you’re not a fan of romantic comedies.

“My Best Friend’s Wedding” Uses Pop Culture to Create one of the Most Genuine Romantic Comedies You’ll Ever See

Julia Roberts in a tearful scene from "My Best Friend's Wedding"

The very musical and theatrical comedy, My Best Friend’s Wedding is a film about a woman who in her quest to win her prize (her male best friend and former lover), she realizes that her masculine personality needs to be feminized, but her naturally aggressive personality never fades. This tomboyish woman’s quest is played out amidst infectious, side-splitting camp that never goes over the top, as well as director P.J. Hogan’s true-to-life mean-spiritedness that has become his trademark.

I recently bought the Best Friend’s DVD and I’ve just about worn it out. Whenever I see Best Friend’s I feel a rush of emotions, from laughter to sadness, but whatever the emotion may be, all of the emotions are undeniably human. Hogan is keen at tapping into the broad parts of the human psyche as well as the minutiae. I’m sure that it’s the actors’ talent that accounts for the genuineness of Best Friend’s, but I also think that Hogan knows how to bring out honest performances from the actors he works with, so that the characters are more than just vessels to speak dialogue and are recognizably humans.

Australian film director P.J. Hogan is somewhat of an auteur because his personality spills out into his films. Hogan consistently uses popular songs and pop culture references exceptionally well to strengthen the meaning of his films. Hogan’s last film prior to Best Friend’s is 1994’s Muriel’s Wedding and the film was what inspired Best Friend’s star Julia Roberts to hire Hogan as the director of Best Friend’s. Although Muriel’s and Best Friend’s are two noticeably different films—the former inspires sympathy from the audience, while the latter inspires against sympathy—both film’s are full of well-known songs that convey the ethos of each film. Regardless of if the well-known songs are used to inspire celebration, fun or sadness, the songs ultimately endear the audience by somehow striking an emotional chord with the audience. In Muriel’s Hogan used the music of Abba (which was glossy and happy-go-lucky on the surface, but underneath the gloss was a bitter sweetness) to show the main character Muriel’s desire to rise above a dismal, humiliating world to become glamorous and actually happy. In Best Friend’s Hogan uses the music of the1960s and 1970s—that include Dionne Warwick—to summon a feeling of the past. That’s another common element of Hogan’s films; he has characters from a modern era identify with music from a past era, which can be defined as nostalgia. Ultimately, nostalgia is what drives Julia Robert’s tomboy in Best Friend’s to want to steal her best friend’s fiancé.

Released in the summer of 1997, Best Friend’s was advertised as a romantic comedy that boasted the California-wide smile of Julia Roberts, as well as her explosive laugh, but instead of showing the America’s sweetheart side of Roberts that’s shown in films like Pretty Woman and Steel Magnolias, Best Friend’s showed a different side of Roberts that was surprisingly convincing. Roberts does not play the protagonist of Best Friend’s, but more the antagonist. Throughout the film, Roberts’ character does one thing to inspire sympathy, but then does something else to counteract the sympathetic moment; it’s a constant tennis match between acts of sympathy and acts of animosity.

Best Friend’s is the story of a 27-year-old New York City food critic named Julianne Potter who finds out immediately that her former lover and best friend of 9 years Michael O’Neal (Delmot Mulroney whose curled lips have a Rock Hudson quality to them) is engaged to be married, and will be starting the wedding preparation weekend in less than 24 hours. Julianne’s mission blasts off into action immediately. She must stop her best friend from getting married and then steal his heart from the blond heiress Kimmy (Cameron Diaz)

Roberts’ Julianne is undeniably a tomboy going through Best Friend’s primarily wearing pants and walking with the gait of a gangly Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird. The one glamorous aspect of Julianne is her curly Rita Hayworth-like auburn hair. Julianne’s hair is “big” as Kimmy makes note of in Best Friend’s, and at points in the film Julianne’s big hair gets so voluminous that she resembles a member of a hair-metal band.

In this day and age, romantic comedies are formulaic at best and they’re defined as being the same movie over and over again, except with different character names and sometimes different actors (which is often not always the case). The standard romantic comedy consists of two people eventually falling in love each other after obstacles keep them from realizing their love or they spend the majority of the film bickering—think of the Doris Day and Rock Hudson movies from the 1960s. Oh yes, and add adorable pets like dogs and cats, as well as characters that play the sidekicks (usually female) to the main characters, as well as popular soft-rock music. Best Friend’s does involve people falling in love with each other and has a sidekick and is full of popular music, but the film is a warped, gonzo version of the standard romantic comedy, which means that Best Friend’s is by no means a standard romantic comedy. Rupert Everett plays the sidekick George, who is Julianne’s editor and second best friend who acts as Julianne’s voice of reason. Hogan himself compared George to "Pinocchio"’s Jiminy Cricket who was wise and acted as a conscience and was sympathetic, but was also blunt in the advice he gave. George is just that, blunt, and also quite theatrical.

The theatricality of George is a character that embodies the campy and sing-songy entertainment of Best Friend’s. No other character in the film represents the spirit of Best Friend’s main spirit. Hogan’s dreamy sequences that come across as scenes from old animated Disney movies come-to-life are so hypnotic, they’re often magical. There’s a scene in the film when George tells a fictional, but fanciful tale of how he and Julianne met at a mental hospital where there was a man who thought he was Dionne Warwick and started singing Dionne Warwick’s classic 1967 hit, “Say A Little Prayer,” which sets into a motion a musical scene that mesmerizes the characters, as well as the audience. The physical appearance of Diaz’s Kimmy represents the nostalgia of Best Friend’s by being a throwback to the zaniness of Doris Day. Kimmy has the hairstyle of a woman from the 1950s to the early 1960s and she has this old-fashioned essence to her. Kimmy’s shrill hysteria and trusting nature is child-like and naïve, but Kimmy is as Julianne puts it, “endearing.” Kimmy has a softness and innocence that Julianne obviously lacks, it’s clear to see that Julianne missed out on her chance to be Michael’s girl even though she wishes she could go back in time. This is a situation that most humans can relate to: a person wishing they could right their wrongs and bring the knowledge that they learned in the future with them back to the past with intentions of using it to change history. Best Friend’s is essentially Julianne’s journey through denial and her inability to let go of the past; her inability to let go prevents her from focusing on herself and how to make herself a better person.

My Best Friend’s Wedding is a classic, at least for me, because it’s a film that can be watched repeatedly without wear. P.J. Hogan’s direction is like flesh and blood, while being of dreamy pastel colors that look like they came out of Glinda the Good Witch’s bubble. After watching My Best Friend’s Wedding, it would be highly unlikely that the film didn’t strike an emotional chord within the viewer. My Best Friend’s Wedding is a film that truly gets what human nature is all about.

“Clueless” Reveals the Innocence of Teens Hidden Behind a Façade of Designer Clothes and Cell Phones

Alicia Silverstone in a scene from Clueless

By Christopher Cole

1995’s Clueless is definitely a comedy of manners if there ever was one where what you say and how you act makes or breaks you. Although director Amy Heckerling (Fast Times at Ridgemont High) loosely based Clueless on Jane Austen’s 1815 novel, Emma about a spoiled rich girl who is naively snobbish, but watching Alicia Silverstone star as the film’s heroine, Audrey Hepburn’s portrayal of Breakfast at Tiffany’s heroine Holly Golightly comes to mind because both heroines are “real phonies” who have to realize the errors of their superficial ways in order to find true happiness.

I didn’t watch Clueless until 1996, a year after its release. At this time, I was a fifth grader who enjoyed watching the MTV Video Music Awards on a Thursday night and then talking about it with my classmates the day after at school. I was a pop culture junkie at 10 years old. It was also in fifth grade when I rented Clueless accompanied by pizza and I was enraptured by Clueless. The crayon box colors of the film and the instantly catchy vernacular was all I needed to be rendered “clueless.”

Clueless is the story of a high school teen queen named Cher Horowitz who has sun-kissed hair and a sun-kissed view of life. The type of sun doing the kissing is of the California variety in Beverly Hills: the land of rich teenagers who carry themselves with an air of self-importance. The film first introduces Cher as a bubbly clotheshorse who good-naturedly manipulates her way through life. She shops religiously and plays the role of matchmaker for fun. The second act is when her matchmaking stops working and starts backfiring on her. This is when Cher’s way-of-life starts to crack. Quickly, all the cards of her House of Cher start to collapse leaving Cher without her happy-go-lucky persona. Her wide-eyed look of naiveté transforms into a squinting, frowning on-the-verge of tears look. The third act is when Cher decides to stop letting her image-ruled life be empty and start realizing that in order to fill up her life, she has to grow up and not let her life be ruled by society’s haves and have-nots. Clueless is a teen comedy and naturally it appeals to teens (and apparently 10-year-old boys), but unlike its angsty teen movie counterparts, Clueless is a film that a family could watch together, albeit some teen drug use and sexual references, the drug use and occasional sexual references seem to only exist in Clueless because it’s requisite for a teen film. Clueless is rated PG-13, so it can’t be that racy.

The teens of Clueless aren’t wincingly mean the way most teens are depicted in films, which is some sugar coating to match the candy colors of the film. Even when insults are distributed, they’re only meant for comedic value and aren’t taken too personally by any of the characters. Clueless follows in the footsteps of cult classic teen comedies, Heathers (1989 which spawned countless imitators) and Valley Girl (1983 which Clueless seems the most similar in terms of subject, tone, dialogue and visuals) by having teens speak their own language. The famous phrase from Clueless, “As if!” is still used today—that’s a testament to the film’s impact.

Clueless is by no means a dramatic film full of plot twists or particularly interesting characters, but it’s a fun film that works as a humorous slice of Southern California life. Of course, there is a plot, but it’s a plot that is as “carefree” as the SoCal (Southern California) lifestyle. The plot consists of Cher’s coming-of-age that unfolds in a series of scenes that lampoon the 1990s rich kid: skaters, fashionistas and playas, with the bottom-line being that all these rich kids are poseurs who all are just kids underneath their facades. Like any adolescent with money, these Beverly Hills teens try their hardest to act like adults.

One of the interesting things about Clueless is that it shows Cher as more of an observer and not a do’er. Her former stepbrother Josh (Paul Rudd) was correct when he told Cher that the only direction she has in life is “towards the mall.” Cher claims she wants to be “5’10 like [supermodel] Cindy Crawford,” but she doesn’t do anything to move towards becoming a model. Cher lives in the land of models and actresses, which is Los Angeles. To be fair, Cher is just like most teens because despite her confident exterior and designer clothes, she is still searching for an identity. Cher’s life is essentially empty, so she searches for things to fill her life and keep her occupied. The mistaking of image for identity is one of the main concerns of Clueless, which is how Cher identifies herself as a pretty and stylish person, but she doesn’t have an identity besides that. Her self-image and identity is limited. There are constant examples of Cher’s obsession with the way she looks or the face she presents to the world in Clueless. One instance is when first arriving at a party, Cher tells her new creation Tai (Brittany Murphy) that in order to attract the guy she wants she should act really “popular” like she knows everybody. Another instance is when preparing for her driver’s test Cher is upset that she can’t find her “most responsible-looking ensemble.” In the world of Cher, there is an outfit to match every situation in life.

Like most films set in Beverly Hills, Clueless is shot so beautifully that it’s one of the best travel ads for Southern California that’s not a travel ad. As expected, there are the trademark palm trees everywhere. The houses are basically McMansions that have a sweeping presence on the screen. Cher’s best friend Dionne (Stacey Dash) lives in a majestic Tudor home that looks as if royalty should live there.

To keep with the theme of being hip, the soundtrack of Clueless is a youthful collection of rock, pop, indie and rap/hip-hop. Although using a contemporary soundtrack, Clueless features covers of classic songs like The Muffs’ grungy cover of Kim Wilde’s 80s hit “Kids in America,” a cover of David Bowie’s “All the Young Dudes,” as well as an actual song performed by David Bowie called “Fashion,” which is at the beginning of Clueless.

At the time of Clueless’ release, Silverstone was known for her racy performances in a couple of Aerosmith music videos. She also was known for playing a murderous Lolita-type vixen in the film, The Crush (1993). Clueless was a light-hearted departure for Silverstone and comic relief for her career. As Cher, Silverstone comes across to the audience as a close friend, a sister or a girlfriend. Silverstone’s distinctive voice endears her to the audience because there’s a tone in her voice that conveys her good intentions. As far as starlets go, Silverstone’s performance as Cher is less vixen and more a loveable sweetheart along the lines of Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly or Sally Field than anything else.

Clueless is a concise film at only 97 minutes. The scenes fly by as the viewer watches with familiarity and enjoyment. There are numerous memorable scenes and that’s why Clueless has stood the test of time: it’s original, it’s a crowd-pleaser and it’s a genuinely funny, light-hearted take on the often angst-ridden topic of the teenage experience.