Film critics pour scorn on them and feminist bloggers view them as demeaning to females.

But women in Singapore, like women elsewhere in the world, have been flocking to watch a new wave of films in which the heroines are shallow, weak or man-crazy, or sometimes all three.

The latest to hit the screens is Confessions Of A Shopaholic, which opens here tomorrow. It is the fairy tale of a weak-willed woman, played by Isla Fisher, with a shopping addiction.

But despite her flaws, she lands her dream man and job. It is based on author Sophie Kinsella’s bestselling chick lit series which has been a fixture on bestseller lists here.

Thanks to a revitalised marketing campaign tied to the movie, Confessions Of A Shopaholic, first published in 2000, has rocketed back into the Life! bestseller list at No. 7 last month.

The nearly 10-year-old book has spent two of its five-week return to the charts at No. 1, suggesting that a new generation of readers is discovering it.

Ms Felicia Low, section chief, English book merchandising department at Books Kinokuniya, says: “Sales of the Shopaholic books have more than doubled over the year and the movie is not even here yet.”

Ms Teressa Hoon, fiction and children’s buyer for Borders Books, also says that sales of Confessions have at least doubled last month.

Other chick lit-chick flick tie-ins are doing equally well.

She says sales of He’s Just Not That Into You, by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, doubled after the movie, starring Drew Barrymore and Scarlett Johansson, opened here on Feb 19 at the No. 1 spot.

Some people say the comedy portrays women as desperate for male attention.

But that has not stopped book or box office sales. As of last weekend, the film has earned a healthy $1.07 million after a four-week run.

Similarly, Bride Wars, in which best friends played by Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson become vicious, hair-pulling harridans because their wedding dates clash, earned $1.18 million here.

The movie that kickstarted the trend of women behaving badly was last year’s Sex And The City (2008).

The film, based on the hit HBO series, worked on the premise of materialistic women indulging in their every whim, from sex to shoes.

It earned $1.72 million here, a strong figure, considering it was rated R21 and skewed towards a female viewership.

Similarly, the frothy Mamma Mia! (2008), in which a self-sufficient hotel owner played by Meryl Streep dissolves into a lovestruck teen when three ex-lovers show up, earned $1.8 million.

These figures may seem tame compared to blockbusters such as The Dark Knight (2008) which regularly cross the $3-million mark here.

But film distributors say chick flicks are critic proof.

Ms Maan Villareal, marketing director at Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Singapore which is distributing the Shopaholic movie, says support of chick flicks such as Shopaholic is strong.

“These films don’t pretend to be anything other than what they are,” she says.

While the film will have an easier time getting name recognition, thanks to the books, there are other factors to consider, she adds.

“People who may have heard of the book but not read it may see the movie out of curiosity. But it might be that fans of the book have preconceptions,” she says, adding that how the movie is adapted is also crucial for success.

“It’s a double-edged sword.” While such tales might sell well, they do not earn critical adulation, to put it mildly.

Confessions’ star Fisher has earned raves for her comic flair. But comments about the movie were less kind.

Reviewer Claudia Puig of USA Today, for example, calls it a “brainless chick flick that reinforces the worst female stereotypes”.

The women in the film show the “maturity and smarts of a petulant eight-year-old”, says Thomas Rogers of Salon.com.

Project manager Christine Chew, 25, a fan who has read all five Shopaholic books, admits that the premise behind the books, that a woman can be as deeply flawed as she wants to be yet have everything, is “ridiculous”.

But she defends the series: “We like the fairy tale where we do all the wrong things like shop and break the bank and in the end, everything comes out right. But our rational side knows it’s not possible.”

She agrees that the film will probably milk laughs from ugly stereotypes.

But she points out that comedies about men do the same thing when they portray males as womanisers.

Girls just wanna have fluff...

Other fans of chick flicks say times have changed. Forget sweet romantic comedies such as Sleepless In Seattle (1993), in which a sensible, competent journalist played by Meg Ryan falls for lonely architect Tom Hanks.

Nowadays, fans say, films celebrate women and all their foibles, no matter how stereotypical.

Ms Joselyn Sim, 33, a programme leader for advertising design at the Lasalle College of the Arts and chick flick fan, agrees that lately, these movies have dropped the “conservative and coy” wrapper that used to bind leading ladies.

These days, female-skewed romantic comedies are about women with personality flaws who will not or cannot correct them, she says.

“These are women who keep messing up their lives, but who still find the man they want,” she says.

Like several of the women interviewed, she says it is wrong to generalise about women from the film: “It’s just light-hearted fun and entertainment.”

Kinokuniya’s Ms Low agrees that the series’ appeal has a lot to do with how unreal it is: “The Shopaholic series is fun and full of fluff. It’s escapism at its best.

It’s the lifestyle that many girls wish they had. Also, the Shopaholic gets the guy in the end.”

However caricatured the characters in these films are, Ms Sim points out, there is a germ of truth to the insecurities these new heroines feel which female audiences can identify with: “Women can get emotional about relationships and I can see myself in those female characters.”

Ms Villareal admits Confessions is a chick flick, but bridles at how it has become a dismissive phrase.

“It has become derogatory over the years to call something a chick flick, but there is nothing wrong with these kinds of films.

“Confessions celebrates women’s fantasies and what better fantasy than being able to indulge in shopping, which is seen as a women’s pastime,” she says.

She is familiar with the feminist critique of the books and the film, rated PG here. She thinks the poisonous reviews may spring from a misplaced sense of nostalgia: “It’s a reaction to heroines in the past, who were smart and brassy, characteristics that men like to see in women.”

Flawed leads such as Confessions’ Becky Bloomwood are created by women for today’s women viewers, she says.

However, one thing that will not change is the sense of romance. Except that today, the definition of romance needs to be broadened.

She adds with a laugh: “The romance is with clothes and high fashion. It’s not just with men.”

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This article was first published in The Straits Times.