WHEN IN ROME
LAURIE COKER'S REVIEW
RATING: F
Before the screening of ?When in Rome,? a colleague of mine, commented that I don?t seem to like any movies lately. She purported that I have hated pretty much every film of late. I haphazardly defended myself ? knowing I am entitled to my opinion, which most certainly has not been all negative ? and sat down to LOVE this Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel romantic comedy. I hunkered down and I tried, really, really, really tried to like it. I wanted to not seem jaded or cynical, but while the film began well, it quickly turned into an annoying mess of slapstick and asininity.
A work-aholic curator for the Guggenheim Museum, Beth (Kristen Bell) armed with a freshly broken heart, has sworn off love, when she heads to Rome to attend her sister?s wedding. As need be in rom-coms, Beth meets Nick (Josh Duhamel), a former college football star who was once struck by lightning and who as gained fame for it, being referred to as ?The Hit.? Finding instant chemistry with this new guy, Beth decides to give him a chance only to be dashed by a mistaken chance encounter. This misunderstanding leads to wine binge drinking, sending the distressed young woman to an ornate Italian fountain ?the Fountain of Love. Now even more cynical about love, she pulls five coins out of the water. After Beth returns home to New York City she finds male model Gale (Dax Shepard), artist Antonio (Will Arnett), magician Lance (Jon Heder), and sausage kingpin Al (Danny DeVito) chasing her around, begging for love. Desperate, she calls her sister and her new Italian husband, only to discover that these now magical coins she plucked from the fountain represent the undying love of the five men, who threw the coins in the water. With all these men out to win her heart, Beth worries that the fifth coin might actually belong to Nick, who?s come back into her life desperate for a relationship.
Unfortunately the story, played out, is even sillier than it sounds. Beth?s admirers come out at the weirdest times and do the most ridiculous and absurd things to demonstrate their love for her, from painting her nude image on the side of a building to disrobing in a busy café and doting on her by showering her with flowers and bratwurst to showing up in her apartment. These stupid scenes, that resort to making direct allusions to the film ?Napoleon Dynamite? and have normally funny actors looking utterly ludicrous, annoyed me even more than these men?s advances freaked out and annoyed Beth.
I admit that most romantic comedies ask us to believe in magic, chance encounters and love at first sight, but director Michael Steven Johnson and screenwriters David Weismann and David Diamond (I?ll avoid some sexist remark here about men writing romance) want us to suspend belief completely ? expecting us to accept total nonsense as true. Their characters are cartoons of people, not even good or funny ones. They behave stupidly, irrationally and what?s even more insulting is the fact the supposedly normal characters (not under any silly spell) act preposterously too.
Bell and Duhamel actually are tolerable. It is they, who make the first half hour of the film light, adorable and interesting, but they soon become part of the whole muddled mess and their cuteness gets lost in the lunacy. Now, and forgive me for saying this, if Duhamel had taken off his shirt, I might have like the film better, but that just makes me sound shallow, but with so much dribble being paraded across the screen, I found myself thinking, imagining as it were, ways that I might have improved the film and or my viewpoint about it. Sad really. Shepard, Devito, Heder and Arnett, to be fair, give this their all. They are great at being idiots, but I contend, that is the problem - it is far too much of the worst characterizations I?ve seen in a while. Heder, who played the lead in Napoleon Dynamite, is just plan creepy, and the blatant references to his previous film ? including the character Pedro ? just aren?t funny, plain and simple. I typically like Shepard and Devito, and Arnett but when Antonio produces the silliest, smallest Italian car ever seen and five characters take off in it in a race to the Guggenheim, I wanted to cover my eyes. It is just NOT funny!
'When in Rome,? rated PG, could have been good, had filmmakers had the sense to trust in its leads and to hold to the story?s start, but alas they do not. We are even privy to an asinine double climax and ending with the same final result. Why? I am placing a F in my grade book. If Duhamel had taken off his shirt I might have awarded the film a D-, but he didn?t ? Dax Shepard did.
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HAYLIN BELAY' REVIEW
RATING: D
When trying to think of what to say about the latest offering from the world of chick flicks and rom-coms, WHEN IN ROME, it's tempting to just point to my review of last week's LEAP YEAR. I'll admit, I went into the theater with high hopes; I'm a huge fan of Kristen Bell, Will Arnett, Dax Shepard, and just about every other person appearing in the film, and while I've never been a huge fan of Josh Duhamel, I was willing to give him a chance. Romantic comedies are not my strong suit - I'm a cynic at heart, and it takes a really special film to make me believe in love at first sight that lasts forever and ever. WHEN IN ROME wasn't this film, and to be honest, I wasn't expecting it to be. I was hoping it would play to the comedic strengths of the cast, which it did briefly before taking a turn for the worse.
The film starts out strong, with some solid comedy and a genuinely likable performance of the usually annoying rom-com heroine from Kristen Bell. I was surprised to find that I liked Duhamel a lot in this film - at least, in the parts that didn't make me cringe and hide behind my hands - but, just as I was starting to get giggly, the script began to stumble... and fall... and land flat on its face. And then skid for about forty-five minutes as I watched Bell and Duhamel forcing themselves through repetitive and cliche meloramatic scenes, Jon Heder and Dax Shepard firing off punchlines to unfunny jokes all the while. For a film with such a solid cast, WHEN IN ROME completely fails to play to the real strengths of its ensemble. Bell makes a valiant effort, giving a strong performance of awful material, but Arnett and Shepard seemed to be phoning it in. Oh, and it shows. The laughs come pretty consistently for the first bit of the movie before tapering off and finally ceasing completely. WHEN IN ROME is at its best when it breaks and subverts the mold of the usual rom-com; unfortunately, it seems like the makers of the film felt obligated to include the standard rom-com fare. A sincere effort, but one that ultimately drags WHEN IN ROME dips down to LEAP YEAR's level - if not further.
While the first thing I said when I walked out of the theater was that WHEN IN ROME was at least better than LEAP YEAR, I'm afraid I have to give it a lower score if only because I know that the people involved in this movie could have done much better - I saw it with my own eyes for the first handful of scenes! While LEAP YEAR had a feel-good ending, WHEN IN ROME's clunky screenplay just makes the ending drag on too long, making both the romantic and comedic aspects of this film fall completely flat. LEAP YEAR at least delivered what it advertised; WHEN IN ROME spoils a perfectly good premise and cast on gags that overstay their welcome and scenes so steeped in melodrama I almost found the laughter I had lost during the intentionally comedic scenes.
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LIZ LOPEZ' REVIEW
RATING: C-
It is becoming more and more difficult to write something positive about a romantic comedy and the year just began. Generally, I like a good romantic comedy to entertain or at least take me away from the outside world for a while, but it has not happened this month. This film did not take me away, nor did I find very much humor in it.
The story is basically the same as in others and uses the same type of humor; running into poles, trees or into an opening in the sidewalk. Oh, and did I mention running into the same horse and carriage? How likely is that in New York?
Touchstone Pictures is releasing ?When In Rome? in theatres on January 29th starring Kristen Bell as Beth, a young museum curator in New York with a successful professional life, but not a romantic one. To make matters worse, her younger sister, Joan (Alexis Dziena), meets an Italian hunk, Umberto (Luca Calvani) on a plane trip she took and plans to marry him two weeks later in Rome.
Beth is attracted to the Umberto?s best man, Nick ((Josh Duhamel) She was burned by her prior relationships, so she just does not want to go there again with Nick. The rest of the movie goes on about how Nick pursues her back in New York. She resists and goes nearly crazy after having taken four coins from the fountain of love in Rome that magically attracts four men to Beth. They vary in professions: one is a sausage magnate (Danny Devito), Lance is a magician (Jon Heder), Antonio is an artist (Will Arnett) and Gale is a male model (Dax Shepard).
One, I do not believe this would happen. Two, if four men are stalking a woman in New York the way these four men do, including showing up in the woman?s apartment, they should be in jail. I did not find it humorous. Nor did I find it humorous that the priest, Father Dino (Keir O?Donnell), was so infatuated with Nick. It was just not necessary to go in that direction with the script.
I was surprised to see the father of the bride is Don Johnson. What? However, when Beth is meeting with her boss, Celeste (Anjelica Huston), I really did enjoy the scenes where Celeste is really, really cold. It is a great performance, but very brief.
Well, the film is rated PG-13, so I was glad to see the film is not filled with tons of sex scenes and the actors kept their clothes on. There is one brief scene where the newlyweds are in their kitchen and not fully clothed, but it is a limited scene.
I do realize there is a market for this type of film and that is probably why this type of film keeps surfacing. I do not like to pay full price for a film that lacks real humor in it, no matter how many well- known actors are in it.
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MARK SALDANA'S REVIEW
RATING: 2 (Out of 4 Stars)
Kristen Bell is definitely a cutie-pie and from what I understand Josh Duhamel is popular with the ladies. From what I have seen of their work so far, they are not bad actors. They haven?t tackled any really challenging parts but even so, they manage to work their personalities and looks to great effect in all of their projects. Unfortunately, when a film project has a poorly written script, charm and beauty are usually not enough to save the picture. Bell and Duhamel team up in the latest romantic comedy to hit theaters titled WHEN IN ROME. While the film does have some genuinely funny moments, it also has plenty of absurdly stupid, over-the-top, and predictable moments which keep this potentially cute movie from achieving, well, goodness. I say goodness as opposed to greatness because it is extremely rare that a romantic comedy entry is capable of greatness.
WHEN IN ROME tells the story of Beth (Bell), a determined career woman who has been unlucky in love through most of her adult life. Immediately following an unexpected break-up with her boyfriend and during a very hectic time at her job as an art curator, Beth travels to Rome to attend her baby sister?s wedding. While there, she connects with Nick the best man (Duhamel). After a misunderstanding, Beth becomes depressed and steals a handful of coins from a legendary love wishing fountain. The men who had tossed the coins in the fountain instantly become obsessed/fall in love with Beth and follow her to the U.S. where they begin stalking her.
Among the psycho suitors are Antonio (Will Arnett) an Italian painter, Lance (Napoleon Dynamite?s Jon Heder) a street magician, Gale (Dax Shepherd) a self-obsessed male model, an older wealthy businessman (Danny DeVito), and of course Nick, the only man in whom she genuinely has an interest. These insanely obsessed men make Beth?s life and career hellish. Even though unconditional love is something she desires, Beth realizes that the magical spell that is controlling these men is not the same as true love.
The troubled screenplay by writing duo David Diamond and David Weissman (OLD DOGS) keeps this typical and predictable romantic comedy from working adequately as junk-food entertainment. The story is obviously a fantasy which really is not the source of the film?s woes. The uneven mixture of hilarity and painfully stupid humor made the film a difficult one for the movie doc to watch. My hopes were raised when something funny happened and then crushed when a ridiculously bad moment took place. It probably is not director Mark Steven Johnson?s fault either. This movie?s troubles began when Diamond and Weissman began typing.
Perhaps Johnson got tired of tackling comic book hero films that are usually panned by the comic fans. DAREDEVIL is okay but I have to agree with the comic geeks 100 percent that Johnson truly butchered GHOST RIDER. Johnson?s best film to this day is still 1998?s SIMON BIRCH. If Johnson wishes to redeem himself and earn some credibility as a director he needs to stay far away from the romantic comedy genre and study the comics a little better if he chooses to go back to comic based films. He adds nothing special to ROME with his direction. Perhaps what makes this film more disappointing is the great cast that could have kept this sinker afloat with a better script.
Like I previously stated, Bell and Duhamel have the chops for this type of film but should have passed after reading this script. Will Arnett (of TV?s ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT), Dax Shepherd (IDIOCRACY), and SNL?s Bobby Moynihan all have funny moments in the film but these are few and too far in between. In between are ridiculously stupid and absurd attempts at humor which made me wince while watching and are making me wince while I am typing this review. This really is a damn, damn shame! All three of these actors are very talented when it comes to comedy. Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder is probably given the worst comic material in the film. He is painfully unfunny as the magician Lance. Finally, Danny DeVito?s talent is wasted in his small role in the film. His material in the film takes dullness to a new level. The only way DeVito could have salvaged that role is if he had been wasted, as in drunk, much like his hilarious drunken television appearance on THE VIEW.
This is just my opinion, though. Apparently some of the audience members enjoyed the silliness of it all. While I did laugh at parts during the movie, the rest of the time I was shaking my head, shuffling in my seat, open mouthed at the stupidity, and finally praying for the closing credits. As a special note for the men, this is definitely a film geared towards female audiences. So if a girlfriend or wife asks to be taken to this movie, keep in mind it is not always an easy film to sit through. The few positives in this film do not outweigh the negatives.
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