Conefssions of a Lack of Knowing

Tonight I went to rent the movie “Knowing” from Blockbuster. I was looking forward to seeing this movie after reading a few reviews touting it for posing thought provoking questions about determinism vs. free will. Are events in the universe already preordained or do they happen by chance? Do we have the ability to change the future by making choices, or are we only fulfilling what has already been determined? I enjoy thinking about questions like these and was looking forward to seeing a (hopefully) thought provoking and entertaining film.

I was in for a surprise, however, after my wife inserted the DVD. Instead of “Knowing” starting up, we were shown a menu for “Confessions of a Shopaholic”. Apparently, someone had switched the DVDs when returning the movies. This was hardly the interesting movie I had been hoping for, but it was already late and my wife had wanted to see it, so we decided to just watch it.

I was not disappointed. It was exactly what I thought it would be: formulaic, predictable, with a few laughs. It involves a young woman, Rebecca (played by Isla Fisher, who actually does a good job even though she keeps pretending to be Amy Adams), who is addicted to shopping. As she racks up thousands of dollars in credit card bills, she ironically lands a job writing a column for a financial planning company. (I know this is ironic because one of the characters helpfully points out this irony just in case the audience missed it.) She takes this job only to help her get closer to writing for a Vogue-like fashion magazine. Of course she eventually realizes she is in love with her editor (I never understand why people’s friends have to point out that they like someone in movies...don’t people know when they like someone?). There is a slight love triangle with a more successful and glamorous woman, but it turns out (gasp!) that the editor does not really like this woman, but instead likes Rebecca. However, he does not know that she is massively in debt, and it looks like all is lost when her evil bill collector finally catches up with her.

Of course, given the genre of the movie, everything ends happily. Rebecca gets the boy she wanted and learns some valuable lessons on the way. When she is offered a job at the fashion magazine, she decides that that kind of writing is not how she wants to spend her life. I learned a lot as well. I now understand that there is just no need for more than one Prada handbag (even if they are on sale). Before buying my next pair of shoes, I will stop and think, “Do I really need this?” And as I walk by store fronts, I will keep in mind the emotional scene towards the end of the movie when storefront mannequins applauded Rebecca as she resisted their temptation.

I was hoping to watch a movie last night about determinism, chance, and free will. However, maybe I learned more about that from this experience. My free will and choices were leading me to watch “Knowing”. However, I could not escape my fate. It had been determined in advance…I was going to watch “Confessions of a Shopaholic”.