Movie Review: ‘When in Rome’

I walked into this movie thinking that I would relish ripping it apart. After all, everything about the trailer and marketing spews predictable and humdrum, rom-com (romance-comedy) ditziness.

You can imagine my surprise when, five minutes in, I find myself actually enjoying it and laughing out loud more than a few times.

Why was the recipe successful? Well, you have the right ingredients:

• Squeaky-clean, good-looking lead actor Josh Duhamel (Nick) and lead actress with a blinding smile Kristen Bell (Beth).

• Romantic location—Rome and its many beautiful fountains.

• Danny DeVito’s largest on-screen performances in years.

• A supporting cast full of ringers, including Angelica Huston, Amy Poehler’s husband Will Arnett, Dax Shepard of Baby Mama, and John Heder, aka Napoleon Dynamite. Need I say more?

Beth, a triple Type-A workaholic shuns love to protect herself from getting hurt. She attends her sister’s wedding in Rome, where she stumbles onto fate. As a result of taking a few coins from a legendary fountain, Beth discovers that she is all of a sudden very much in demand, as she becomes the object of desire for five different guys, each stranger than the last.

Legend has it that those who take coins from the fountain will become the object of affection of the coin’s previous owner. Will she finally find true love? Or will the spell eventually wear off?

Clearly if you’re unable to suspend your disbelief in the cheesy plot device of a magic fountain casting love spells, this isn’t the film for you. However, it's easily one of the best rom-com’s to come along in quite some time.