When in Rome

Beth (Kirsten Bell) is a workaholic curator @ the Gugenhiem in New York. Her life revolves around her job which she uses as an excuse for her singledom. For her apparent lack of faith in a concept called love. Although she secretly pines to find “the one”, she doesn’t have the courage to take the plunge. She is in for a not so pleasant surprise when her baby sister, Joan (Alexis Dziena) decides to tie the knot within 2 weeks of knowing Umberto (Luca Calvani), an average hot blooded, gorgeous Italian. Beth is shocked out of her wits because her rational side cannot accept the fact that her sister has decided to settle down within a time that is not even sufficient for a reasonable “credit check”.

Now Beth has an exhibition of art centred around the theme of “pain” coming up and her boss Celeste (Anjelica Houston) all but threatens to fire her if she is unable to ensure that the main exhibit reaches the venue on time. Assuring her of being on top of her job, she rushes to Rome for her sister’s wedding where she bumps into the clumsy best man Nick Beamon (Josh Duhamel). Nick and Umberto were together @ university where Nick was labeled “The Hit” thanks to being struck by lightning during a football game. That successfully ended his career in football and he finds himself now writing copy for the sports section in a local publication in New York.

There is an instant chemistry between Beth and Nick and despite her best efforts Beth cannot stop herself from making the first move. However, her excitement is short lived when she sees Nick kissing a hot chick in a red dress @ the famous fountain of love in Rome. Beth, yet again, is disappointed with love and spends the rest of the evening getting drunk @ the fountain. In her dismay, she also decides to pick up 5 coins from the fountain to prevent the 5 wishes from coming true. Whats the point of being in love anyways right? Wrong. Not when u try this stunt at the fountain of love. Legend has it that if you pick up a coin from the fountain then u have accepted the love of a person and therefore have cast a spell on the person who has thrown the coin into the fountain. The next thing you know, Beth has 4 men who are running after her in New York city. An unsuccessful Italian painter – Antonio (Will Arnet), A model who is a narcissist personified – Gale (Dax Shepherd), A street magician who doesn’t have the confidence in performing live – Lance (John Heder) and A Meat Baron who has recently broken up with his wife – Al Russo (Danny De Vito). Now wait a minute… who is the 5th person? Will Beth find true love? Will she be able to get rid of her 4 stalkers? You will need to watch WiR to find out!!!

Mark Steven Johnson’s first attempt @ a RomCom doesn’t come off too well. His previous efforts were with Dare Devil which flopped quite badly at the BO and Ghost Rider which did pretty well. The direction in these 2 was nothing close to stellar. With WiR he maintains the un-stellar direction. Must give him points for consistency. The story though is compact and well narrated. Not dragged around too unnecessarily. Finishes off in under 90 minutes. With some slapstick situational humour thrown in. Keeps one reasonably entertained. But nevertheless is not too inspiring in any ways. In a nut shell there is nothing too new really other than the fictional spell that is cast by the Fountain of Love. Acting is at best average with the exception of Danny De Vito who in his bit part continues to fascinate you with his ease of essaying any role that is given to him. Ditto for Angelica Houston. But it beats me why these 2 great actors chose to play a part in a below average movie like WiR. I had missed this out when it hit the screens a few months back. Would probably say it was worth the DVD but then I am an addict to movies. 4 on 10 for this one. Thoda disappointing.