When in Rome (2010) Movie

Hmmph - I didn't win the tickets to this movie despite my blog entry (I have deleted it in a pique and this can't be undone) which I expended at least half an hour of my life writing. I couldn't believe I didn't win (yeah, super ego. Go me.) so I checked hotmail about 5 times and even checked the junk folder in case the email informing me that I had won a pair of tickets was accidentally chucked in there by the electronic gods. No such luck.

However, at about 11am on the day of the movie itself, I received a call from the contest organisers informing me that they had extra tickets and since the tickets were free seating I accepted "graciously" enough their offer and turned up for the movie. I must say I am surprised that there are so many other bloggers out there, much less so many who have taken part in the contest. And I must also add that I felt very out of place because the other bloggers appeared to be in their teens or early twenties. Me, in my office garb and LV work bag looked very old and out of place. Hence, I was one of the first few to get out of the cinema when the movie ended.

I am not quite sure why the movie received such awfully bad reviews - true, it was predictable, true, it is a movie I'll advise anyone to watch on DVD (or wait for it to screen on TV even) and not waste a good money ticket on but it had its funny priceless moments too.

The show starts with Beth at an event she organised where her ex-bf approaches her to inform her that he realises how important work must have been yada yada (so the audience knows that Beth is a workaholic) and then breaks the news he is getting engaged to someone else when she is beginning to think he wants to work things out. The DJ overhears the word engage and makes an announcement that Beth is getting engaged. Everyone cheers and breaks into song. Beth then clarifies she isn't engaged and after that, the heel of her shoe breaks. She goes home muttering that it is the worst day of her life. Her doorbell rings when she is home and her younger sister bursts in to inform her that she is engaged to a guy she has known for two weeks. Despite Beth's attempts, she will not be dissuaded and even invites Beth to her wedding in Rome. Beth's boss, Celeste tasks Beth with an impt project (a fund-raising even) and Beth promises her boss she will pull it off. Beth is shown in Rome trying to receive a signal on her blackberry and arriving with her luggage bag at her sister's wedding. Her mother tells her that her father is somewhere around with his latest tramp and the father appears clarifying that his new gf is not a tramp. Anyway, in the church, the best man is seen staggering up the pews late for the wedding with his blackberry buzzing away. Beth shoots him a sympathetic glance and he turns out to be the lead of this movie, Nick. They hit it off when Nick rescues Beth from several italian traditions (like breaking a vase) and making a speech (Nick offers to translate what Beth is saying but gets it grossly wrong). Beth is seen to get champagne and look for Nick, only to find him being kissed by a hot brunette. Beth is so disillusioned (she thought she had found love) that she downs all the champagne and gets tipsy enough to jump into the fountain of love in her evening gown. She picks up several of the coins thrown there including a poker chip. Each time she picks up a chip, a scene where the person who has thrown the coin looking struck by love appears, all except for the poker chip. To cut a long story short, there is a model, a painter, a very short and fat sausage magnate and a street magician for each coin. Each madly pursues herand she finally figures out what is going on. But Nick is also pursuing her and after one of their rare dates where she finally agrees to meet him for dinner and they end up back at his house, she seeks a stack of poker chips on his table. Beth assumes that Nick has fallen for her not for her but because she picked his chip. So she leaves him and tells him to keep the painting he has offered to lend her for the project her boss has set for her. On the day of the fund-raising event, the 4 suitors turn up at her apartment and Beth is about to return the coins to them to break the spell when she realises that her assistant has taken the coins (the assistant wanted Beth to be loved). She then tells them that she has fallen for Nick and loves him. The 4 suitors appear disappointed but decide that if they love someone, they would put her wants above their own. So they pile into 1 of the suitor's small car and drive to the museum where the event is taking place. There, Beth gets the coins back from the assistant and returns each to the owner, breaking the spell. The street magician is mischievious and takes the poker chip from Beth, makes it disappear and then make 3 of the same chip appear, then 2. He finally gives 1 to Beth who loses her grip on it and has to run down the spiral downwards winding path chasing the poker chip. The chip lands at Nick's feet (he lent the painting which was a hit at the event) and he picks it up. Beth expects him to tell her he doesn't love her but he tells her he still does. Beth is elated and they decide to get marry in Rome. Cut to Rome where Beth is in a wedding dress about to go into the church for the wedding when the street magician appears with a poker chip. He gives it to her telling her that it must be hers since it isn't part of his collection and Beth realises that Nick might still only be in love with her cos he hasn't been returned his chip yet. At the wedding, the priest appears to be reluctant to marry them both and at the part where she is supposed to say I do, she says no and runs out of the church to the fountain of love where she climbs in again in her wedding gown time time. Nick chases after her and she gives him the poker chip. He asks her why she keeps giving him poker chips and assures her he still loves her. The poker chip is thrown into the fountain and the priest looks as if a spell over him as been broken. Beth realises that the chip was the priest's who had beaten Nick at poker and the story ends.

The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. U know eye candy? That is exactly what Nick (the actor Josh Duhamel) is. Oh my gosh, I just checked and he is 38! He looks like he is in his late 20s to early 30s! What a hottie! And yeah, he is married to someone in the same league - Fergie of the black eyed peas. It looks like I have gone off track when I am supposed to be reviewing the movie. Well, the show is a romantic comedy and a reminder once more that love is all about serendipity.