Posted: Wed. 3rd Feb, 2010. (11:35am)

Disillusioned with romance, an ambitious New Yorker travels to Rome, where she plucks magic coins from a special fountain. The coins attract an assortment of odd suitors, including a sausage merchant, a street magician and an artist. But, when a persistent reporter throws his hat in the ring, she wonders if his love is the real thing.

Posted: Wed. 3rd Feb, 2010. (11:35am)

Though not as ultra-clichéd as its title, When in Rome follows the predictable conventions of the genre. There's a higher-than-average dose of chemistry between the affable and attractive leads, Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel. Their likability is the only reason to watch the movie.

Bell not only has the girl-next-door quality that works in movies like this, but also an evident intelligence that makes her more than just another pretty face. Duhamel has a boyish, self-effacing appeal and an ease with this kind of material that makes you wish he was given more roles like this. But the humor is spotty, at best, and the conceit not only familiar, but more far-fetched than most. It feels lazy, like the screenwriters and director were only partially committed to making the comedy succeed.

Bell plays Beth, a curator at the Guggenheim Museum, who travels to Rome for a mere 48 hours to attend her sister's wedding. There she meets the handsome best man Nick (Duhamel) and sparks fly.

In a moment of weakness, fueled by booze, she fishes coins out of the Fountain of Love. Shortly afterward, she has a quartet of strange men showing up in New York, wooing her in odd — but not terribly funny — ways (Danny DeVito, Dax Shepard, Will Arnett and Jon Heder). Love charms aside, she actually feels something for Nick, but is convinced he also has been tricked by the magic fountain.

The conventionality of the story is occasionally leavened by a scenario that has the makings of comedy, such as a jaunt to a trendy restaurant that requires its patrons to eat without their visual senses. It's a long scene that doesn't pay off as it should.

By: Claudia Puig