Rebecca Bloomwood is a fashionable young journalist with a closet full of designer clothes, a wallet full of credit cards, and a mailbox full of bills! Unable to resist the urge to shop, Rebecca finds herself $16,000 in debt, and when she loses her job, she also finds herself way over her head. Though she really wants a job writing for a fashion magazine, out of desperation Rebecca accepts a job at a financial magazine—ironically, giving financial advice to readers! As Rebecca struggles to live the extravagant life she’s dreamed of since she was a little girl, her tangled world of debt collectors, shopping sprees, and resume lies is about to come crashing down around her . . .

. . . the idea that we can choose how we want to be defined. Rebecca’s dreamy love interest, Luke, seems to have a good take on life. He says, “I don’t want to be defined by clothes or labels or family.” Sure, it’s fun to let our clothes communicate our personalities, but it’s another thing altogether to feel like you’re not a quality person if you’re not wearing the right clothes. 

. . . the idea that we don’t have to be slaves to money or credit cards. Matthew 6:24 tells us that we can’t serve both God and money. God gives us money to be used as a tool. He never meant for money to be our master—He meant for us to be masters of our money! When God trusts us with money, He also expects us to use it not just on ourselves, but to help people around us. In fact, according to James 4:3, sometimes God doesn’t give us money because we are selfish with it. 

. . . the idea that we should just tell the truth and ask the questions that will bring the truth to light—more sage advice from Rebecca’s love interest, Luke. That was one of the things Jesus did while He was here—He uncovered all the truth that was buried in darkness. 

When we think of addiction, we usually talk about drugs or alcohol or food. This movie shows that people can also be addicted to “getting things.” At one point Rebecca actually says, “When I shop, the world gets better. The world is better. And then it’s not . . . and I have to do it over again.” I thought it was a pretty honest look at how we go after things we think will make us happy and then realize that what we so desperately wanted is actually an empty substitute. 

This movie shows the main character and her friends drinking alcohol quite a bit. At one point Rebecca and her friend get totally “wasted” on tequila before they open her bills to find out how much she owes.  The parties and events Rebecca attends all serve alcohol as well. Here are a couple of life hints: First, it is entirely possible to have a good time socializing without an alcoholic drink in your hand; second, self-discipline and a budget are much more effective tools when it comes to solving financial problems than a bottle of tequila—which will only help you do things you’ll regret later and give you a splitting headache the next morning. 

While the moral of the story is obvious—live honestly and within your budget—it’s hard not to get caught up in the movie shopping experience. With all the fancy name brands bouncing off the lips of the shopaholics, the moral of the story is sometimes eclipsed by seemingly unintentional advertisements for expensive designers. Fortunately, Rebecca’s outfits are weird and mismatched, and the temptation to copy her “look” is pretty much nonexistent.   

Move over, little white lie. Rebecca tells lies in every shade! In the end, of course, she realizes that it’s better to just tell the truth; however, in the meantime, it’s uncomfortable to sit and watch her entangle herself more and more with the lies that jump right out of her mouth unchecked. 

There are a few other issues with this film, including mild language, a scene in which an unmarried man and woman are in bed together, and a clothing store fight over boots. 

While I’m not making recommendations for whether or not you should see this movie (that’s for you and your parents to decide!), here are some “thinking” questions:  

1.     In this movie, some of the most hard-nosed members of the Shopaholics Anonymous group were actually the ones with the biggest shopping addiction problems.  This kind of thing happens in church sometimes. Have you ever noticed that some of the most critical, angry people are hiding deep issues of their own? Jesus had a name for people like this, and you can find it in Matthew 23:27.

2.     Rebecca had a hard time answering her telephone because she was always afraid it would be a debt collector. Proverbs 28:1 tells us that wicked people are like that—they run all the time because they know they’ve done something wrong. What are God’s people like? Check out the second half of the verse for the answer. 

3.     At one point in this movie Rebecca says, “If I can just get this job, I will be happy forever!” Ever felt that way? If you could just get that new pair of shoes or that certain kind of jeans or a touch-screen cell phone with a built-in camera and MP3 player . . . Well, King Solomon never owned a cell phone, but he sure understood what it felt like to want things. See what he said about it in Ecclesiastes 4:6.

4.     Where do our temptations come from? Find the answer in James 1:14-15.