We honor the shopping season kick-off with a look at shopping movies.
With the post-Thanksgiving black Friday officially turning malls across America into war zones last week, we thought the time was right to discuss America’s favorite past time on the big screen. Surprisingly, considering how much we love to shop, there aren’t a whole lot of movies specifically about shopping, so we’ve broadened our list to include movies that feature shopping – or shopping locations – in some manner.
Got something to add to the list? Email Jeff your suggestion and we’ll add the responses to our next mailbag feature!
10. Dawn of the Dead
Nothing like shopping while racing from flesh eating zombies, right? Thankfully, this mall has all kinds of useful items to aid in survival of the zombie apocalypse.
9. Clerks
Sure, the clients here are shopping for snacks, gum and cancer sticks, but still shopping nevertheless. And if you have really crappy parents, they just might go to the Quick Stop to fill your stockings.
8. Career Opportunities
Wow, stuck in a Target with Jennifer Connelly all night? I think I’ve had that dream (repeatedly ever since). 90’s uber nerd Frank Whaley and Connelly shop, talk and, of course, fall in love. A piece of early 90’s cheese that announced the power of Target and the hotness of Jennifer Connelly all at once!
7. Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Okay, this may not come to mind right away as a shopping movie, but stick with me here. In the movie’s final sequence, Brangelina shoot up a Sears-like home goods store, dropping tents, mannequins and anything else getting in the way of their bullets of looooooove.
6. Mallrats
Kevin Smith clearly has a thing for shopping as he graces our list for a second time with this cultish little mall-based movie from the mid-90’s. Jason Lee and Jason London troll the malls discussing everything from relationships to comic books and even new and exciting uses for chocolate covered pretzels.
5. Can’t Buy Me Love
Patrick Dempsey buys the ultimate male accessory at the mall: the head of the cheerleading squad. If girls like Cindy Mancini really were on sale at the mall, women might not have as much of a struggle getting their husbands to tag along to Bath and Body Works.
4. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
A must for the list. 80’s teens hanging out in a mall, working in a mall and generally living their lives around… you guessed it, a mall. The mall really achieved its golden age in the 80’s and Fast Times certainly epitomized the mall hang-out culture. If the 50’s hot spot was the soda fountain, the 80’s was The Food Court.
3. Pretty Woman
How many women haven’t envisioned themselves in the Julia Roberts role here? I mean, a destitute hooker swept off their feet by Richard Gere and taken to all the posh-est locations to revise their wardrobe. Okay, everything except the hooker part, right?
2. Clueless
What-ev-er. Everything about this movie screams consumerism. Like Kevin Smith, director Amy Heckerling strikes the shopping list twice. Clearly, this woman loves to shop. Alicia Silverstone is Cher, a 90’s teen who spends half her life buying clothes and never wears the same outfit twice.
1. The Devil Wears Prada
The ultimate movie about fashion. Anne Hathaway's Andy Sachs character dives head first into the fashion world. Besides learning to cater to each and every whim of her prickly boss, she gets a full-on makeover and lots of free designer clothing in a scene akin to the female equivalent of porn.
Got something to add to the list? Email Jeff your suggestion and we’ll add the responses to our next mailbag feature!