When in Rome

Starring:  Kristin Bell, Josh Duhamel
Romantic Comedy, 2010 (Rated PG 13)

Kristen Bell stars as Beth, an unlucky in love workaholic curator at a New York Museum.  Her younger sister meets an Italian man and plans a wedding in Italy all in two weeks causing this all about business gal to head to the romantic city of Rome where she promptly ignores the scenery and clutches her cell phone to try to call work.  She meets Nick at the wedding and starts to feel a little hopeful but when even he appears to be a disappointment she drunkenly stumbles into the fountain and cynically plucks out 5 coins.  If love really does exist it certainly doesn't come from a fountain.  Next thing she knows she is being pursued by 5 smitten suitors including Nick.  Will she finally get the man of her dreams and her happy ending or is he just under a spell?

• This movie was cute and entertaining.  It followed a lot of the typical cliches that many romantic comedies do but there is a reason for that.  We like it!
• There were very funny moments throughout and it really was a fun and funny story line.
• Who knew when we saw Kristen Bell in Veronica Mars so many years ago that she would turn out to be such a wonderful comedic actress.

Just Me

“When In Rome,” starring Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel, is exactly this type of film. Beth (Bell) and Nick (Duhamel) meet in Rome, Italy when they are maid-of-honor and best man at a mutual acquaintance’s wedding and immediately recognize the chemistry between them.
However, things turn horribly wrong when Beth witnesses a clandestine kiss between Nick and a random Italian woman. After a full bottle of champagne, she swipes coins from La Fontana d’Amore (The Fountain of Love) on a whim and later finds herself pursued by the five men whose coins she stole – including Nick.
The movie, directed by Mark Steven Johnson, is both well casted and scripted, and all actors are convincing in their roles: Beth is a workaholic who fights love whenever it comes her way yet can’t help herself falling for Nick, a player who throws his comfortable bachelor lifestyle away for her. Their developing romance is convincing and heartwarming, and the extra comedy provided by the sidekick best friends often has the audiences rolling.
While the writers shaped excellent dialogue and a good central story, they probably could have done a better job producing convincing subplots. What began as an exaggerated joke (the fact that Duhamel’s character was struck by lightning in college) morphed into a major storyline and came across as far-fetched.
They also could have worked a bit more on making the whole thing less predictable. Yes, there is a significant plot twist, but it doesn’t occur until the last two minutes of the movie. The rest follows the basic chick flick recipe, which – though entertaining – is not very intellectually stimulating.
The title is also misleading. Most people would assume from it and the previews that the movie would be based in Rome. In fact, the majority of the film takes place in New York City. Now, as a New Yorker I love the Big Apple, but if I wanted to watch a movie set there, I’d pull down Maid in Manhattan off my shelf.
On the whole, seeing the film is an enjoyable experience and would be a fun excursion for a girl’s night out, but I would suggest holding off until the DVD release. Save your ten bucks for a box of chocolate.

* * out of four

When you were a kid, did you ever wonder why your parents told you not to take coins from a wishing fountain? “Daredevil” director Mark Steven Johnson solves this mystery in “When in Rome,” a very predictable, sometimes funny and overall ho-hum romantic comedy.

Kristen Bell (“Astro Boy,” “Couples Retreat”) plays Beth, whose younger sister is getting married to some Italian guy she’s only known for two weeks while Beth is more in love with her job in an art gallery than a man. Josh Duhamel (“Win a Date With Tad Hamilton,” “Transformers”) is best man Nick, and when he starts flirting with maid of honor Beth, it looks like things are changing in Beth’s life. But soon we have the “accidental misinterpretation,” where Beth sees something, makes an assumption and abandons her hopes with Nick.

Now, feeling rejected, she wades in one of Rome’s beautiful fountains. She decides to take some of the coins which she believes were thrown in by people wishing for love. What she doesn’t know is with each coin she picks up, whoever threw it will fall hoplessly in love with her.

She is soon trailed by four strange men, played by Will Arnett, Danny DeVito, Dax Shepard, and Jon Heder. She also seems to be running into Nick a lot. She seems to be falling for Nick, after said misunderstanding is cleared up, and wouldn’t you know it, she finds evidence that Nick is in fact the owner of the fifth coin she picked up. So… is Nick in love with Beth or is it just a spell?

You should already know where this is going. It’s an easy film to predict. So that aside, let’s look at the rest of the film.

Chemistry: rom-coms are all about this one crucial attribute. You must believe the two people are really into each other. As a couple, I suppose Beth and Nick work. But their characters are too dull, to the point where they have to rely on funny slapstick gags to keep us entertained. They’re not a bad couple, just not an interesting one.

Humor: I like rom-coms that rely on the actors’ body language and delivery and timing of dialogue and leave the sight-gags for just the right moments. “When in Rome” delivers the exact opposite. None of the actors have anything worthwhile to say, so they must be kicking champagne glasses onto power cords, falling in holes inexplicably placed on the sidewalk, hit by cars, stumbling over horse buggies, falling partway down the length of a building while painting a nude picture of someone and stopping right in front of the nasty parts, dining in a restaraunt set in pitch black where people are constantly bumping into each other and breaking dishes and of course, the obligatory shot of someone walking into a tree. I know I’m a guy and I’m a little biased to this kind of film, so let me just say that there were plenty of women young and old in the theater and not once was their anything above a minor snicker. Are you willing to spend $7.50 to snicker, when funnier reruns of “Friends” are on fifty different channels tonight?

Acting: I thought Bell and Duhamel did fine as the starring roles. My problem is that they weren’t given anything interesting to say, and very little to do. Beth and Nick needed to have more personality. Something to make the audience care about them and find them unique. Other than his physical appeal, Nick is nothing that special. I sometimes wondered if the other four lovestruck fools were simply written in there to make him seem more likable. Truth is, they were all more interesting… arguably the best part of the film!

One of my idols, the late, great Gene Siskel, once remarked that a movie should be more fascinating than watching the cast members have lunch together. When I look at the cast, including Bell, Duhamel, DeVito, Arnett, Heder, Shepard and also Anjelica Huston (who is hardly worth mentioning in this review), I think a two-hour lunch session would not only be more fascinating, it would be funnier.

eh, it’s a cute little romantic comedy.  the two main characters, kristin bell and josh duhamel are very pretty and very charming.  the supporting characters are a little thin.  which is shame.  i like all those guys.  danny devito, napoleon dynamite, dax shepard and will arnett are all very funny dudes.  just not in this movie.  and i was glad to see pedro make an appearance.

there are scenes that are funny.  mostly the physical comedy which both duhamel and bell pull off really well, there’s just not much of it.

it is very predictable which is the biggest complaint i’ve heard from movie goers about this film.  but it’s a romantic comedy.  almost by definition these things are predictable.  but it’s still enjoyable, especially in the company of cute little blond girls.

two naked roman statues out of five.  prob not gonna buy it.

Cal Reed

A poker chip rolls down the ramp at the Guggenheim in Manhattan. On and on it goes, past museum-goers, past installations, past Pissarros, Picassos and Kandinskys. Where will it stop? Beth doesn't know. She's the youngest curator at the museum, in charge of a major fund-raiser, and like the wayward chip, her life has careened out of control.

Her problems began in Rome when she ventured into the Fountain of Love. Now, love, in all its wacky permutations, has followed her back home.

Beth, played by the always winning Kristen Bell (TV's "Veronica Mars") is a workaholic New Yorker and the love-shy daughter of a Lothario Dad, the always hunky Don Johnson. Also making cameos are Anjelica Huston, as Beth's no-nonsense boss and Danny DeVito, as the Sausage King. (You'll just have to see the movie.) And not to forget Picasso's "Woman with Yellow Hair," which, as Beth explains, sums up her reasons for believing love is nothing more than fool's gold.

Somehow everything coalesces in this smart, funny, tender rom-com about the magic of art and love.

You'll also be happy to hear that Hollywood is kinder to the Guggenheim in this flick than it was last year in "The International" when the bad guys blew it all up.

See you at the movies, The Movie Slut

Stupidly, I walked into "When In Rome" assuming it was going to be a comedy. I mean with people like Kristen Bell, Dax Shepard, Danny Devito, Jon Heder, Will Arnett, would you expect anything less?
 
Well, you shouldn't if you said yes you silly person. The answer is no. I expected a comedy and got a subpar chick flick, which if we look at the international ratings for entertainment quality, rates slightly above indie horror flicks about mutated animals/people/piranas, and slightly below chopping one self's foot off.
 
Kristen Bell plays Beth, the very young and attractive curator of the Guggenheim museum in New York, which as you know only hires young, attractive women to run the place. Beth feels like no one loves her because her boyfriend is getting married and she loves her work too much to find a guy. The obvious solution would be to not work as hard and find a husband, but being a chick flick, rationality is thrown out the window faster than a dead mouse.
 
After being all mopey about her ex-boyfriend getting married, Beth discovers that her sister is getting married in Rome. Beth flies to Rome and gets involved with the best man Nick (Josh Duhamel, Transformers) But when she sees Nick kissing another girl she climbs into the fountain of love and takes people's coins from the fountain. I guess this is some Roman legend, I'm not entirely sure, but every guy who threw a coin in the fountain that Beth picks up, falls instantly and magically in love with her.
 
Plot is not this movies strong point, but at least it starts getting funny around now. Several guys fall in love with her, a struggling magician (Heder), an Italian painter (Arnett), a model (Shepard) and a sausage company owner (Devito). Beth knows these characters don't actually love her, but she's not sure if she picked up one of Nick's coins who seems to have fallen in love with her as well.
 
Unfortunately, their scenes are incredibly underutilized, although amusing. If "When In Rome" has anything going for it, it has a great supporting cast who do their best to make this movie enjoyable. Shout out to Bobby Moynihan, an SNL regular who is great as Nick's best friend.
 
"When In Rome" fails on a lot of different levels, and if you do see it, do your best to enjoy the great scenes with the supporting cast.
 
One and a half out of four stars
 
-Christopher O'Connell

Last updated: 2010-02-15 14:20:47 by JoeandChrisO

"When In Rome" is not going to win any awards but I thought it was a decent flick. The mediocre script and predictable plot is saved by an excellent cast.

Kristen Bell has that wholesome sexiness that has been missing since Doris Day stopped making films. She and Josh Duhamel have good chemistry. Will Arnett, Jon Heder, Dax Shepard, and Danny Devito are all madly in love with Kristen Bell, which could have come across as creepy but the actors are so good that it comes off as sweet instead.

Compared to such trash as "The Ugly Truth," and "Couples Retreat," "When in Rome" seems like a masterpiece. But it is not a masterpiece. It is as light and fluffy as cotton candy but I didn't check my watch once during the entire movie. I wish I could say that about some of the Academy Award nominees.

"When In Rome" is a throwback to the old style romance comedies that are completely devoid of the vulgarity that passes for comedy these days. In the dog days of January, you could do much worse.

Vincent Snavely

In an imaginary world where coins become lucky when you throw them in a fountain, we find ourselves with a love story that includes magical love potions sending men chasing down Beth (Bell),our young "unlucky in love" event planner who unknowingly changed fate by pulling some coins out of the fountain. Soon after she is nearly hunted down by the likes of 4 suitors willing to do anything for her love. Unfortunately, the guys she has chasing her are not your typical "hunks" and their bizarre acts to show their love end up pushing her further into a strange magical world where the flip of a coin into a fountain REALLY meant something.  
 I went into this film expecting another "cookie-cutter" romantic comedy. Throw your plot, location, and actors in the mix and you get what we have been seeing the last 10 years or so. Same old story between a boy and a girl and same old happy ending. But don't forget that one final twist and you have yourself a romantic comedy. Fortunately I felt this film did have its own element of originality. They used a MAGIC SPELL to make the love story their own. Kristen Bell was the lead actress along with Josh Duhamel as her love interest and there was a surprisingly great cast of actors their to support the cause. Danny Devito, Anjelica Huston, Will Arnett, Dax Sheperd. I want to say Jon Heder but after the movie Napoleon Dynamite he can NOT get out of that role in any movie he plays. We all know him as this guy and he has been forever type cast in all films that will ever be. So, in my opinion, he was a little bit annoying. I think that the cast overall though, can pick up the slack of the cheesy story-line and still entertain.

My Elementary Grading Scale: Progressing Satisfactorily
1-10: 7