Combustible Celluloid


New movie reviews, DVD reviews, interviews, and all things film.

movies

50% Off DVD Sale at BarnesandNoble.com! Shop Now.

 
Home | Archive | About | Blog | Lists | Links | E-mail me | Sign up for my weekly newsletter! |  
 



The Innkeepers ***1/2
The Woman in Black ***
The Grey ***
Man on a Ledge ***
Underworld Awakening **
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos ***
Haywire ***
Beauty and the Beast ****
Contraband ***
The Divide *
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ****
The Devil Inside **
The Iron Lady **
A Separation ***
Pariah ***1/2
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ***
The Darkest Hour **
War Horse **1/2
In the Land of Blood and Honey **
The Adventures of Tintin ***1/2
More
 



Adaptation
Dream House
Drive
Frida
The Magnificent Ambersons
Malcolm X
The Mill and the Cross
The Moment of Truth
Outrage
The Piano
The Thing
To Kill a Mockingbird
2011: The Year's Best DVDs and Blu-Rays
More
 

Film Features

2011: The Year's Best Films
Year's Best DVDs and Blu-Rays
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards
Interview: Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender
Interview: Simon Curtis
Interview: Werner Herzog
Interview: John Cho
Interview: Roland Emmerich
Interview: Stephen Bishop on Moneyball
Interview: Nick Swardson
Interview: Lynn Hershman Leeson
Interview: Lone Scherfig
Interview: Jesse Eisenberg & Aziz Ansari
Interview: Wayne Wang
Interview: Andre Ovredal on 'Trollhunter'
Interview: Ewan McGregor & Mike Mills
Interview: Kelly Reichardt (Examiner link)
The 54th San Francisco International Film Festival - 2011 Coverage
Interview: Emma Roberts
Rainn Wilson & James Gunn (Examiner link)
Interview: Tom McCarthy
Interview: Abigail Breslin (Examiner link)
2010: The Year's Best Films
2010: The Year's Best DVDs & Blu-Rays
Interview: Sofia Coppola
Interview: George A. Romero
The Decade's Ten Best Films: 2000-2009
My Top 100 Films [Updated]
My Top 60 Directors [Updated]
Christmas Movies
Essential Halloween & Horror Movies
Cult Movies
Actress Interview Gallery
More Features and Interviews
 

Film Books

Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, by Alonso Duralde
Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World, by Judy Stone
James Agee: The Library of America Collection, by James Agee
Just Making Movies, by Ronald L. Davis
More Books
 



Home
Reviews A-C
Reviews D-F
Reviews G-J
Reviews K-M
Reviews N-Q
Reviews R-T
Reviews U-Z
 

The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

 
SEARCH MOVIES / CELEB

Advanced Search

 
 
© 1997-2012 Combustible Celluloid



When in Rome (2010)

Rating: 1 Star (out of 4)

Fountain of Uncouth

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

When in Rome is even worse than this year's first romantic comedy offering, Leap Year. Whereas that movie was just lazy and formulaic, When in Rome is stupid and lazy and formulaic. We're supposed to swoon over the lead couple, Beth (Kristen Bell) and Nick (Josh Duhamel), but they're surrounded by a huge collection of jarring, one-note cartoon characters. Beth and Nick are forced to relate to these nincompoops in a real way, rather than a silly way. In essence, the lame attempts at comedy stamps out the romance, and the romance ruins what might have been a nutty comedy.

Beth is a workaholic who takes a couple of days off for her sister's wedding in Rome. She meets the obnoxious, but charming Nick, fights with him, gets drunk, heads for a magical love fountain and retrieves a handful of coins from the water. The original owners of those coins -- who are, coincidentally, all American (including an American doing a ridiculous Italian accent) -- fall madly in love with her. They are all easily defined by a single joke. Lance (Jon Heder) is a cheesy street magician. Antonio (Will Arnett) is a goofy "Italian" painter. Gale (Dax Shepard) is a narcissistic male model. And finally, Danny DeVito is a creepy "sausage king," who sends baskets of meat rather than flowers.

A fifth coin presumably belongs to Nick, and Beth doesn't want to win his love through magic, which wouldn't be "real." This of course leads to the many usual false endings that the genre now requires. Anjelica Huston perhaps comes off worst of all as Beth's witchy boss with all of the most hideous expositional dialogue. Alexis Dziena has the thankless role as Beth's sister, but Kristen Schaal ("The Flight of the Conchords") livens things up for a minute as a creepy restaurant hostess.

Touchstone released the 2010 Blu-Ray, complete with alternate opening and ending, and -- to the credit of the producers -- lots of humorous extras. Most of the featurettes are joke-filled, and we get bloopers and deleted scenes, making it look as if, hopefully, somebody at one point had some fun on this time. We also get two music videos.


Buy DVD | Buy Blu-Ray | iTunes Download
Trailer | Poster | Soundtrack
Bookmark and Share
With: Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Anjelica Huston, Danny DeVito, Will Arnett, Jon Heder, Dax Shepard, Alexis Dziena, Kate Micucci, Peggy Lipton, Luca Calvani, Keir O'Donnell, Bobby Moynihan, Kristen Schaal, Judith Malina, Lee Pace
Written by: David Weissman, David Diamond
Directed by: Mark Steven Johnson
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some suggestive content
Running Time: 91 minutes
Date: January 29, 2010
Home
New Movies
New DVDs & Blu-Ray
Features
News
Search Reviews
Classic Movies
Film Books
Gallery
Links
About
Contact
All scribblings © 1997-2012 Combustible Celluloid