Movie Review: When in Rome

Over the weekend, my hubby and I had an evening to ourselves. The kids went into another room to see some shows on tv while the “lovebirds” (aka hubby & I) sat on the sofa like a couple of teenagers in love.

Every time I see a romantic comedy, I get all excited. It’s my favorite type of movie. I get my pillow and blanket ready to get comfy on the sofa.  It’s “my” tradition when it’s movie time at our house.

I was really looking forward to seeing When in Rome because it came from the studios that brought us The Proposal, which I loved! But I have to be honest and say that When in Rome wasn’t my most favorite romantic comedy movie.

Maybe it’s because I didn’t see that spark you see when you’re watching a romantic comedy between two people “in love”.  The spark between Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel just wasn’t there.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked the movie but it didn’t touch me like The Proposal did.

The one thing that I loved about the movie is that I learned something new.  I learned that there is a unique way of dining that is quite real.  It’s called Dining in the Dark.  I never knew there was such a thing as eating dinner in complete darkness at a restaurant.  I would love to experience having dinner in the dark. It seems so romantic. 😉

If you love romantic comedies, you’ll probably like When in Rome. You may just have a different view than I had.

Below is a trailer & a synopsis of the movie:

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, how will she know if his love is the real thing?

Below are some clips that I enjoyed.

Suitors Make A Scene:

Breath spray:

Q & A With Kristen Bell & Josh Duhamel

Q: Kristen, how much fun was it being pursued by all these guys?
KB: Well first of all, being surrounded by these guys was great and it is so flattering, because they are all wonderful and funny. I love their comedy and style and I often laugh out loud at them. I was grateful for the opportunity of working with all these guys. I’m glad that they had the faith in me to be able to pull it off and I just tried to do the best I could. Sometimes I could not stop laughing on set because they are all so funny.

Q: Can you explain a little about what happens to your character when she is in Rome?
KB: She goes to Rome for her sister’s wedding – and in a drunken stupor, wades into the fountain and takes out several coins. Then the guys that have thrown them in wishing for love or passion start to stalk her. There’s a lot of chasing and running around in heels. I loved being the object of affection of all those men, from Will Arnett to Dax Shepard. Oh yes, and did I mention I get to kiss Josh Duhamel?

Q: Josh, can you talk about Nick’s relationship with Beth?
JD: We really hit it off in the beginning. It almost seems like love at first sight; it’s going that well. And then something happens and she doesn’t want to talk to him again. After that it’s all about him trying to get her back, a lot of the story is how he is trying to figure out what happened. He thought that everything was perfect, and then all of a sudden it wasn’t.’ Then he finds out why and he discovers that he’s competing with these other guys, and he doesn’t know why he’s doing that either. So it’s pretty chaotic.

Q: Kristen are you driven in real life – like your character? What comes first for you – career or romance?
KB: Personally I think your significant other should be way more important than your work. I love to work, but I don’t know that I’d say I’m a workaholic because I also love relaxing. I have a great balance I think and love both.

Q: Do you believe in magic and superstition?
KB: I am not very superstitious at all. I never have been. I’ll walk under ladders. Who cares? I like to smash mirrors any chance I get. (laughs).

Q: Josh, what was it like playing the romantic good looking leading man?
JD: To be truthful, more than being the good-looking guy, I had to be the straight man. They decided it would be funny if I took some pratfalls and bumped into things, so you see me doing a lot of that in the movie.

Q: Can you talk about the physical comedy. Did that come naturally – did you get injured at all?
JD: There was a scene where I was supposed to run into this car but the stunt coordinator had it set up so that the car was going to sweep out my leg and I was going to roll under the front of the hood and roll up onto the windshield and look in and see that it’s my friend Puck. It wasn’t the most well conceived stunt ever performed – it took us a few times to get it right. So I’m running at this car and the first two times we did it, I literally went right over the top of the car and one time fell on my shoulder or on my neck. And then another time I fell over the other edge of the car and they almost pulled the plug on the stunt. But I talked them into letting me do it one more time and I figured it out. But to answer your question, this kind of comedy fits in with the way I am anyway. I’m clumsy in real life, so I just had a lot of fun coming up with as much funny stuff as possible in this movie.

Bonus Features Exclusive to BluRay

–Alternate opening and ending
–Crazy Casanovas; Mischief from the set off-the-wall cast & crew featurette
–“Extended Pain with the Suitors” – Extended scenes, suitors turn the museum into their own pain exhibit
–Kerplunk! Bloopers from Rome
–Deleted Scenes
–Music Video: “Starstrukk” by 30H!3 Featuring Katy Perry
–Music Video: “Stupid Love Letter” by Friday Night Boys

When in Rome is available now on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Disclosure: I was sent When in Rome on Blu-Ray from Click Communications for review. I was not compensated in any way.

Comments

  1. Sounds like a cute movie!! Thanks for the review

  2. Yep I’m a romantic movie buff and any movie with Jennifer Lopez. If me and hubby can’t get out that’s what we do. Watch a movie after the children are sleep. Try dinner by candlelight & you can even set up a picnic inside the house. Winter time we open the blinds and picnic by our faux(lol) fireplace.

  3. I watched ‘When in Rome’ and was looking forward to it as well. I thought that it started off interesting and by the end, I found Kristen Bell a completely UNLIKABLE character. They kept holding on to that one specific plotline [trying not to spoil it for others] way too long.

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