When in Rome | Review
Plot Synopsis: An ambitious young New Yorker, disillusioned with romance, takes a whirlwind trip to Rome where she defiantly plucks magic coins from a “foolish” fountain of love, inexplicably igniting the passion of an odd group of suitors: a sausage magnate, a street magician, an adoring painter and a self-admiring model. But when a charming reporter pursues her with equal zest, how will she know if his love is the real thing?
Review: ‘When in Rome’ is a weird movie to review. It’s the type of movie that should be considered bad or terrible, but isn’t. It’s a romantic-comedy, but it’s not as deep or serious as other romantic-comedies. ‘When in Rome’ is a silly, fun, and bright film that never takes itself too seriously, which, I think, is actually a good thing.
The plot of ‘When in Rome’ is amateurish and simple. A woman (Kristen Bell) with a bad love-life steals coins from a magic fountain, the previous owners of each of the coins fall in love with her, she develops feelings for a guy (Josh Duhamel), but she thinks he only loves her because she may have taken his coin from the fountain. That last part is the first, and probably only, mistake the film makes. Beth (Kristen Bell) is the main character, and she meets Nick (Josh Duhamel) early on in the film; we can tell that Nick obviously likes Beth. So, with this knowledge, we can assume two things: (1) Beth didn’t take Nick’s coin from the fountain, and his feelings for her are genuine, or (2) Beth did take Nick’s coin from the fountain, and his feelings for her are genuine. I think that’s a major plot error for the film, because the only major conflict Beth encounters in the film is “Does Nick really like me or is he under a spell?” But since we knew Nick liked Bell from the beginning, there’s no real problem.
Other than that, there’s nothing else I really have to complain about ‘When in Rome.’ I like both of the leads; I love Kristen Bell – she’s energetic and fun; Josh Duhamel is charismatic and charming, and he’s awesome in the ‘Transformers’ films. The strong leads is what makes the film work, despite the bad script. Every time either of them are on screen, it’s enjoyable. The fact that the film is goofy and silly, and not serious in the slightest, also benefits the film. The lovers we see back and forth throughout the film are hilarious and cameo-filled – one is Jon Heder (from ‘Napoleon Dynamite’) as a gothic and annoyingly funny magician; one is Will Arnett (from ‘Blades of Glory’, ‘Arrested Development’, and ’30 Rock’) as an Italian artist; one is Danny DeVito; one is Dax Shepard (from ‘Baby Mama’ and ‘Employee of the Month’) as a conceited male-model. The antics these men go through in the film are funny and just plain silly. Pedro from ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ also makes about two appearances in ‘When in Rome’!! I mean, that just shows how silly the film really is, and how it should just be taken lightly!
Some other things I liked were the “Night-Vision-Restaurant” scene, the Shaq cameo (“I don’t know anything”), and the small Italian-car scene (“Who made this car, Fisher Price!?”). There’s actually quite a lot of funny lines in the film, like the two I just stated.
There’s really nothing else I can say about ‘When in Rome.’ It’s a fun movie, not to be taken seriously. It’s enjoyable. The characters are fun and silly. It’s just a feel-good film.
PS: There’s an awful lot of lightning in the film.