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Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Josh Duhamel and Kristen Bell

"When in Rome" is the story of Beth, a woman who takes coins from a fountain of love and is subsequently followed around by the men whose coins she took because they believe they love her. Then, when Beth really does fall in love (with Nick) she believes that the love is only the result of having Nick's coin. Kristen Bell plays Beth, the career-oriented woman who has been scorned by love too many times to still believe in it. Josh Duhamel plays Nick, the sweet, likeable man who falls in love with Beth.

In a different movie, Bell and Duhamel have the potential to play a very likeable pair of lovers, but that's not this movie. "When in Rome," is fraught with other ill-formed and useless characters and relies too heavily on well-worn romantic comedy plot devices.

The biggest problem with the movie is the band of misfits that find themselves "in love" with Beth. There are four of these men; one is a magician, one is a painter, one is the owner of a sausage company, and one is a model who loves himself much more than he could ever love Beth. These characters are mostly annoying throughout the film and add nothing to the film.

The chaotic movie also tries to do too many things in a short amount of time. The movie first follows the funny men who "love" Beth but then switches the focus to the budding romance between Beth and Nick. The movie continues with Beth realizing she has to return the coins to the men they belong to in order to break the spell.

When the coins are returned, and Nick still loves Beth, the viewers breathe a sigh of relief only to realize moments later that she gave Nick the wrong coin so she still believes that he is under a spell. Instead of going to Nick immediately, she decides to break the news that she will not marry him while they stand at the altar. About two minutes, after this terrible break-up later everything is worked out and Beth finally tells Nick about the spell and he informs her that he never threw a coin into the fountain. Essentially, what was a 30 second conversation took a monotonous hour and a half.

If "When in Rome" was simply about two people who find each other and fall in love, it could work, but because of all the subplots and miscellaneous characters, the movie switches gears every few minutes and doesn't work. Bottom line: If this movie were a coin plucked from a fountain of love, I'd throw it back.

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