DVD Reviews

When in Rome – Blu-ray Review

By Frankie Dees Jun 25, 2010, 15:23 GMT

An ambitious young New Yorker (Kristen Bell), disillusioned with romance, takes a whirlwind trip to Rome where she defiantly plucks magic coins from a fountain of love, inexplicably igniting the passion of those who threw them in: a sausage magnate (Danny DeVito), a street magician (John Heder), an adoring painter (Will Arnet) and a self-admiring model (Dax Shepard). But when a charming reporter (Josh Duhamel) pursues her with equal zest, ...more

‘When in Rome’ is a rom-com that entertains mostly on an odd-streak zaniness that seems out of place in the otherwise standard romantic shenanigans that unite C-listers Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel.

Wives and girlfriends might be reasonably entertained but the guys might think their watching ‘When in Hell.’

Written by the David team of Diamond and Weissman who gave us last year’s execrable ‘Old Dogs’ (hey, ‘When in Rome’ is no picnic but baby steps right?) and directed by Mark Steven Johnson of ‘Daredevil’ and ‘Ghostrider’ fame, I will say that it definitely could have been worse. Maybe.

Kristen Bell stars as that fail-safe rom-com heroine, the workaholic who despite being cute as a button can’t find love in a city of 10 million. So Bell as Beth is a curator at the Guggenheim Museum. She is in the midst of a make or break exhibition and has to fly to Rome when her sister (Alexis Dziena, who looks nothing like her) has an impromptu wedding to an Italian dude she has just met.

With just 48 hours in Rome before she’s due back in NY or to suffer the wrath of her snooty boss (Anjelica Huston), she automatically comes enraptured with a NY sportswriter Nic (Josh Duhamel) whom hit it off in pure meet-cute fashion. When she’s ready to commit, however, she spots him in a close encounter with another gal where she then drinks herself into a stupor and stumbles into a plaza fountain with the goddess of love, Venus.

Fed up with love, she picks up and keeps the coins thrown in the fountain i.e. the hearts of other lovelorn folks (all guys who live in NY natch).

Returning to NY, it turns out these stolen coins actually cause their owners to obsessively stalk Beth with a love potion #9-like trance. Prepare yourself. We get a Criss Angel-BS magician Lance (Jon Heder), a sausage-company owner Al (Danny DeVito), a presumably Italian artist Antonio (Will Arnett) and an obnoxious wannabe male model Gale (Dax Shepard). And Nic also seems to come under her spell chasing her as obnoxiously as her other enchanted suitors.

As informed by her Italian bro-in-law, the only way to break the spell is to return the coins to the fountain herself or the owners. But Beth assumes Nic has thrown a coin in as well so would returning this coin ruin her chances with the man of her dreams?

So from the above, you can imagine that some surprising supporting actors are in just for the paycheck – I’m looking at you Huston and DeVito – as others should have never been cast in the first place - Jon Heder and Dax Shepard, your turn.

I gotta give a point for Don Johnson though, unbilled, as Beth’s father who is the most at-ease actor in the pic.

As for the main players, Kristen Bell has always annoyed me for some reason although she seems competent enough handling this odd mix of broad, silly humor and romance. And while Duhamel is certainly no Gregory Peck, he does better than expected playing for both love and laughs. Although chemistry between the two is only so-so, they might make OK friends.

The Blu-ray is presented with a 1080p 2.35 AVC encode that’s fine for the medium-budget rom-com that it is. Rome looks great and inviting although the movie seems to be purposely a bit soft - to be, y’know, dreamy. The DTS-HD Master Audio track follows suit as being serviceable if nothing noteworthy.

Special Features include 3-minutes of ‘Kerplunk! Blooper from Rome’, some Music Videos from ‘Starstrukk’ and ‘Friday Night Boys’. We also get eight minutes of mercifully cut ‘Deleted Scenes’ and some BD exclusive features include an alternate opening and ending, a short featurette ‘Mischief from the Set’ with some cast/crew interviews and some more deleted scenes ‘Extended Pain with the Suitors’. I found an Easter Egg also but who am I to ruin the fun?

There’s honestly not too much of note here although gals will find this as a tolerable night in. If you love your significant other, please ladies spare them the pain of sitting through this film.