Plot: What’s it about?
There’s a saying (and I’m assuming that this is where the title of the movie came from) that goes “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Well, I will again assume that if the Romans had movie theaters, they’d skip this movie and move on to something far better. Now I generally like to give movies the benefit of the doubt and seeing a movie with stars like Danny DeVito, Angelica Huston, Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Joh Heder and a few others – well the talent is certainly there to make a good movie, but as we all know – it’s the writing (and acting) that really makes things work. And on we move to the “Romantic Comedy” genre, one that can either really work or really be a tremendous waste of time. But to the filmmakers? credit, this movie didn’t feature Kate Hudson or Matthew McConaughey, so that’s good. And lastly I have to mention the cover of the Blu-ray. Any time you see “From the studio that brought you…” (in this case the … is “The Proposal” a much better film, by the way), it’s a recipe for disaster or a desperate attempt to cash in. All this aside, let’s get to the plot of “When in Rome.”
Beth (Kristen Bell) is an ambitious curator of a museum. Her younger sister, Joan (Alexis Dziena), has just gotten engaged and is set to be married in, you guessed it, Rome. Beth jaunts over to Rome and subsequently meets a dashing ex-football star by the name of Nick (Josh Duhamel) whose claim to fame is that his nickname is “The Hit” in that he was hit by lightning in a football game. Beth becomes infatuated with Nick and immediately becomes distressed when she sees him with another woman. Drunk, she ends up in a fountain where she “reclaims” several coins (each representing a wish) only to find out that each coin makes the person who threw it in the fountain, fall in love with her. She gets back to New York only to find that she’s now being pursued, or stalked as the case may be, by an artist (Will Arnett), a street magician (Jon Heder), a sausage king (Danny DeVito) and a model (Dax Shepard). Naturally she has no interest in any of these folks and she learns that to make this curse disperse she needs to return to Rome and put the coins back in the fountain. That sounds like it’ll take just about 90 minutes, right?
Video: How does it look?
Disney provides a 2.40:1 AVC HD transfer for “When in Rome” and I farily satisfied with what I saw. This is a new to Blu-ray film, so I think I was expecting just a tad bit more in terms of sharpness. A few of the scenes seemed a bit on the softer side, but by and large the image seemed strong and I highly doubt viewers will be disappointed.
Audio: How does it sound?
The DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack is farily consistent with that of all romantic comedies. Lots of light, airy sounds that combine flutes and a springy, “hope all is well” theme. Dialogue is very clean, as expected, even the somewhat stereotypical Italian accents that are prevelant throughout the opening act. There’s not a lot else to say about the soundtrack, it serves its purpose and not much more. Again, no complaints.
Supplements: What are the extras?
There are enough supplements to warrant a purchase if you’re fan of the film (and judging by the box office, not many are) but we do get an alternate opening and ending sequence and a few featurettes. There are about seven minutes of deleted scenes as well as two videos “Starstruckk” and “Stupid Love Letter”. Some trailers for everything but this film are also included.
