User Reviews

Well, originally this must have been a boy meets girl Lifetime movie. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Him: Giorgio, from Queens, poor but suave, charming, confident. A "Clothes make the man" kinda guy. Knows everything about fashion, fabrics, design, accessories, and even homegoods. Women love him. Career: Shoplifts high-end goods to support himself and his spendthrift family.

Her: Chanel, name chosen by her snobbish mother. Upper East Side, the wealth of her parents, fashionable clothes and a posh lifestyle mean nothing to her. Too busy wanting to save the world to date anyone. Career: Wants to write her PhD dissertation about an aversion therapy she hopes will cure shoplifters. She stalks Giorgio until he is caught redhanded and has no choice but to agree to be her guinea pig for the therapy trial.

Because I've already said this was a Lifetime movie, you know how the plot is going to progress: Boy and girl from two different worlds are thrown together, find mutual admiration, spur of the moment sex, and longterm potential but refuse to acknowledge it. Boy and girl finish their time together platonically and go their separate ways. Life gets tougher for each of them and they struggle along alone, never expecting to see each other again. Then voila! Things start to look up for each of them and they run into each other again, to the delight of both. Meanwhile, a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff happens as they interact with other characters.

I think the only other review here, which was quite complimentary, must have been written by someone connected with this movie, but I do agree that the two main actors were just fine. They weren't big name popular actors, as is sometimes the case in many boy-meets-girl movies, and while they didn't have smoking hot chemistry, they were a cute young couple. The rest of the characters were more cartoonish than believable.

No surprises in this movie, but nothing too offensive either (except perhaps to the business owners who are robbed blind by shoplifters!)

"Stealing Chanel" is a well-scripted and well-acted sitcom-style film. A career thief, Giorgio Bene received compliments from his dad when he was able to recall details from fabrics. Eventually, he became a professional shoplifter in the world of haute couture in Manhattan. Then, he meets his match in the therapist who wants to reform him.

Chanel Borden comes from an elite family with her father a Wall Street baron. But she is struggling to complete her Ph.D. in psychology. For her research project, she finds the perfect guinea pig in Giorgio. When a corrupt judge remands Giorgio to Chanel's care, she takes him to boot camp with an intense plan for rehab.

The filmmakers hit all the right notes in keeping the tone upbeat and lively. The actors were superb in their timing and comic repartee. There was an excellent set of characters, including Giorgio's mom, Filomena, who was addicted to gambling. Dr. Titus Adler, the supervisor of Chanel's dissertation, tried to plagiarize elements of Chanel's "aversion therapy." Nearly all of the characters in the film are shysters. While Giorgio is considered "a threat to capitalism," the others exceed him by light years in the area of hustling and scamming the system.

My favorite character was Yuri, the cutthroat proprietor of a designer men's store. Giorgio shoplifts from Yuri, is caught, and sent to Riker's Island. Later, Yuri hires Giorgio, whom he finds useful for his counterfeiting scheme in which he is cloning one-of-a-kind fashions.

Giorgio's "misdirected creativity" gets a boost from Chanel. Slowly, Giorgio becomes honest as Chanel gives in the lies she has been living. But, as the wise Giorgio understands all too well, "the world is full of lies. That's how the world works."

There was some excellent stock footage of New York and a superb cast in this light-hearted romp about the kid from Queens who finally realized his dream.