When in Rome

Beth (Bell) goes to Rome to attend her sister's wedding. Afterwards, she walks in the fountain outside the church and picks up some coins in the water. Legend says that when a coin is picked up, the person who threw the coin will fall in love with the one who picked it out of the water. She picks up 4-coins and a casino chip.

This actually isn't too bad, but there were some annoying things: the singing off camera as the movie opens and more singing as we travel from NY to Rome, some sight gags really didn't work and were too commonplace (we always see the same things and are really tired of them); and some run-a-round conversations that go nowhere and are not funny as intended. The writers should key in on Seinfeld dialogues and learn from them.

But, there are some very good lines in here among the players and that is where most of the comedy is. And, …………and, yes, some sight gags did work and were funny. How about that? Figure it's about 50-50 on the sight gags.

Kristen Bell (looks a lot like Julie Bowen at times) and Josh Duhamel were very good together. Sometimes these comedies don't go anywhere because we do not care for the main characters, but here we do. We like Beth and Nick (Duhamel). Nothing was overdone by the rest of the cast and they performed well.

Don Johnson, as Beth's father, came in from time to time and it was good to see him. He needs another show like Nash Bridges or some-such or some big time movie. Something……………

So the interesting twist is that the 4-men who threw their coins in the fountain are now in the U.S. and stalk Beth to win her love. And, here goofy and silly things happen, but keep in mind, that goofy and silly things are mandatory for a Hollywood comedy. It's like a law or something.

And, Beth believes Nick - also now in the US - is the one who threw the casino chip.

So all in all, not bad. Can you figure out how the spell of the legend can be broken? Thought so. Me too.

Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.

A very predictable Rom(e)-com, that some might not even feel qualifies for the "com" tag. But that would a bit too harsh. The movie tries hard and it sometimes succeeds (imo) in achieving just that (put a smile on your face).

Kristen Bell and some of the men almost save the day. But the chemistry between her and the lead isn't really the best. It's also not the best walk on a line between comedy and romance. But still that could be called nitpicking. And why would you want to do that, if you can just sit back and enjoy this as a boyfriend/girlfriend movie experience, instead of thinking too much about it?

I think I might have overlooked a few flaws, just because of the likability of Kristen and the charm of most of the cast.

Harmless romantic comedy with a twist: A down-on-her-romantic luck American (Bell) steals some coins out of the Fountain of Love in Rome, and the men who threw those items into that fountain all fall in love with her, and pursue the bewildered girl. She's in Rome for her kid sister's wedding where she meets and quickly falls for the charming Josh Duhamel, who looks great even if he isn't given a chance to do any real acting here. When she catches him smooching with another woman, she figures she's back where she started, romance-wise, and returns to New York. Duhamel pursues her, of course, as do the four smitten men (DiVito, Shepard, Arnett and Heder). She now has to figure out how o reverse the spell. Some funny moments, nice location photography (as far as I could tell) and the elfin Ms. Bell make it worth a watch by the gals. And there's a nice tip of the hat to THE WIZARD OF OZ near the end. A trifle at best. Don Johnson has a small role as her dad. Anjelica Houston has an even smaller role as Bell's boss.

There's a lot of negative reviews on here about this, I'm just really glad I watched the film before reading them!! Sometimes a film asks you to suspend your disbelief. The very premise of this film is so preposterous as to not be out of place in an animated Disney film, so I find it incredible that more people didn't watch the film with that in mind. It has an excellent supporting cast, all of which hit the mark, fans of Napolean Dynamite will be delighted, and the leads are really good, Bell in particular.

Sure it's not ground breaking (rom-coms almost never are, by their nature we usually have an idea of what's coming), but it's full of fun and it's been made well, with enough substance and humour to keep you going til the end - unlike some rom-coms with much higher ratings. I would recommend checking it out if you like to lose yourself in fantasy and you're a fan of the genre

Well, you may laugh, you may roll your eyes--you may do both simultaneously. Yes, it's a little cheesy; yes, the acting was not brilliant; yes, some of the gags seemed to repeat themselves. BUT, did I enjoy myself? Absolutely.

The humor mostly relies on a lot of physical comedy (people making blunders and bumping into things...), very little real "wit". I can't say even that the dialogue or the chemistry between the main actors was very good. But if you already know you're a sucker for romantic comedies (particularly heavily humor-laden ones, whether brilliant humor or otherwise), you will probably enjoy yourself. If you're the kind that is only rather surprised when you actually do find a romantic comedy you like, I really don't think you'll be finding it in this one.

No need to repeat the plot; the trailer says it all. And, really, with as simple a plot as it has, the trailer truly does pretty much say it ALL.

In short, it was relaxing and amusing (sometimes not the sort of amusing the director was going for, perhaps), and I enjoyed getting out of the house to go sit and catch a corny smile. Don't go if your demands or expectations are much higher.