Review: “When in Rome”

Seen on: January 27, 2010

The players: Director: Mark Steven Johnson, Writers:David Diamond, David Weissman, Cast: Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Jon Heder. Dax Shepard, Danny DeVito, Will Arnett

Facts of interest: Johnson also helmed "Daredevil" and "Ghost Rider."

The plot: A woman who doesn't believe she can fall in love actually falls in love when she takes a trip to Rome. That's pretty much it.

Our thoughts: Mark Steven Johnson’s “When in Rome” is one of the lamest romantic comedies I have ever seen. Trust me, it is really that bad. It is also yet another great example of how incapable Hollywood is to produce funny films, and even though that’s certainly no breaking news, it still occasionally shocks me to see so much money being wasted on disasters like this one.

In a rather annoying performance, Kristen Bell plays Beth, a busy New York museum employee who adores her job but refuses to believe in true love. So when she travels to Rome and ends up stealing some coins from the famous fountain of love, Beth suddenly finds herself being stalked by a bunch of random dudes who are (or at least believe they are) madly in love with her.

And so the magic begins… NOT! “When in Rome” is anything but magical, funny or romantic, and to be honest, I didn’t expect it would be either of those things. It’s a movie that desperately attempts to entertain people by trying to force bad jokes and rely on a bunch of cute sequences, but truth be told, every single one of these efforts fails miserably. In short: this one sucks big time.

I admit the film boasts a concept that may have worked well enough for a television kid flick or something like that, but for a feature film loaded with famous faces, this one’s as messy and as boring as it gets. Okay, the film’s first 20 minutes are the worst, but sadly enough, things don’t really improve enough from here.

The only thing “When in Rome” has going for it for about five minutes is the series of attempts by Beth’s new admirers to win over her heart. All of the guys running after Beth as a result of her coin theft are obviously brainless freaks you can’t help but laugh about anyway, but there are a couple of moments and pieces of dialogue here and there that actually work.

That said, I smiled about three times during the entire film, and that’s by far not enough to keep me entertained. The rest of “When in Rome” crashes and burns right away, and there’s not much hope to look for as the story develops. The script is as predictable as it gets, following Beth as she discovers true love and falls for Josh Duhamel’s character Nick, a boring dude who got struck by lightning once.

I admit there are girls out there who will fall in love with Duhamel’s charm and all, but to be honest, I wouldn’t call the relationship between his character and Beth romantic. The chemistry between the two is mediocre at best, and the lines they are tortured with in this film ruin every chance for improvement throughout the plot. Both my eyes and ears really hurt at times during this thing.

The guys stalking Beth are played by Will Arnett, Jon Heder, Dax Shepard and Danny DeVito, and like I mentioned before, they portray these over-the-top freaks trying to add fun to the party. Sadly enough, only Shepard manages to pull of a couple of funny moments. DeVito does a fine job as well, but Heder and Arnett are terrible, really.

Freaky quote: "Those guys don't know me. They're just under a spell." - Kristen Bell

The final word: Love punches Beth right in the face in “When in Rome,” and before we know it, the insecure woman we meet at the beginning of the movie learns to believe in love. It’s a common plot structure that can work at times, sure, but in this film, it falls apart before the opening credits have come to an end. This is nothing but yet another bad film from Mark Steven Johnson (“Ghost Rider”).

Article by Franck Tabouring