When In Rome (2010)

Has anyone ever told you never ever to watch a chick flick in cinema 'cos it's just not worth the price you're paying? Well, When In Rome is exactly that kind of movie people keep warning you about. Though "From the studio that brought you The Proposal" is really tempting as The Proposal is seriously the best chick flick of 2009 (and perhaps one of the best of many I'd watched), I never planned to watch When In Rome in cinema. Simply because my movie gang is never interested at watching romance movie and I don't have a special someone to watch with. However, never did I expected an invitation from my coursemate, Anne. Ended up watching this with Anne and our coursemate, Andy Poh. It was actually our first movie outing together and my first outing with Andy (as he remarked). Yes, Andy... you should ask me out more often you bad bad coursemate. XD


Review:

I'll keep my review short and straight to the point this time around as it's not really a movie I'd encourage you people to watch in the cinema. Plus, I'm currently struggling to finish my studies for my final examination next Monday (don't worry though, I'll still find time to write movie reviews). So here goes...

First of all, there is no chemistry between Josh Duhamel and Kristen Bell. It's undeniable that Kristen is one of the cutest and prettiest girl casted for a romance movie with your wavy blonde locks, captivating blue eyes and petite frames (I'm only 1.56m but she's 1 cm shorter than me!!!), and not forgetting the beautiful dresses she wore throughout the movie.

Simply love her dress

Simple and nice

And do i have to say more about Josh Duhamel? Gaining popularity from his role in Transformers, I guess every girl out there is now jealous of Fergie as much as I do. But Josh Duhamel pairing up with Kristen Bell, sadly... produces no chemistry at all... Handsome and pretty, cute and hot but you won't have the feeling that they MUST end up together like Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds in The Proposal, Rachael Lee Cook and Freddie Prince Junior in She's All That, Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in Pretty Woman or Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymoore in 50 First Dates, well... just to name a few. Josh and Kristen look great together but there's just no chemistry.

Nick (Josh) and Beth (Kristen) - Lovely but where's the chemistry?

Besides, the director did a lousy job at joining the scenes. Scenes transitions aren't smooth but weird as we find ourselves jumping from one scene to another. Like Andy pointed out, it's more like watching an on-stage drama rather than a film. It seems like the director had got all these crazy, funny ideas and decided to jam pack it into a 1 hour and 20 minutes show, which is a huge mistakes. Those scenes are of course funny but I guess the director could have at least linked them in a better way that we, the audience wouldn't feel lost in between. As a result, the movie is easily forgettable and at the end of the movie, I bet if anyone can properly remember the whole movie flow...

Lines are also not exceptionally memorable nor is there any scenes that took our breath away like some other romantic chick flick. Script is simply terrible, I dunno what the writers are thinking about when they wrote it...

Kristen Bell (as Beth), one of the very few blonde I adore

And when it comes to performance, as much as I hate to say this, Kristen Bell seems to be the only one acting (taking aside supporting actors) whereas Josh Duhamel is only there to show his pretty face. Perhaps it's the little screen time he's granted, and the not so interesting role he's got, 'cos i seriously think he's got potential (seriously, I'm not being bias here). Well, throughout the whole movie, he's only shown as a clumsy guy with a painful past who's crazily in love with a girl he met for only one day, although he's not under a spell. Even the other supporting actors stole the show like the narcissist model, the shorty sausage man and the artist.

Dax Shepard as Gale, the model who is also Kristen's fiancee in real life (rumoured to have already separated)

*This part may contain spoilers>>There's also a serious plot hole that shouldn't have appear at the first place. When Beth is talking to her sister on the phone, she is told that she must be the one to physically put the coins back in the fountain for the spell to be broken (the reason why she can not just mail the coins to Rome). At the end of the movie, it is Nick throws the poker chip in the fountain, not Beth, but the spell on priest is still broken. Well, it wouldn't have been so obvious if it wasn't emphasized greatly in the first place...

Anyway, it'll do the movie no justice if I didnt credit its positive side, right? But sadly, it's hard to think of something to praise... Frankly speaking, I did enjoy the movie as the scenes are pretty funny, but that's it. Nothing more. Oh wait, not forgetting the lovable Josh and Kristen. They really look good together and I have a feeling they'll make a better chick flick given a better script, better directing and better roles... Hope there's still chance.

Beau and belle... I just love the combination

But I guess it's not what matter here as at the end of the day, girls like me would still pay to watch Josh Duhamel. Can't help it, can we?

Isn't he gorgeous? *faint*

But if you are rational enough, you should know this is not a movie to be watch in the cinema. Get a DVD or just download it. It's not even worth a collection.



Rating:
3.5/10 okay la... 4/10 'cos they are just so lovely...

ps: oops! ended up long-winded after all... :p


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