La fontana dell'amore

Wow, the reviews of this one are pretty harsh. I want to congratulate the film makers for not using profanity, sex, or violence. That in itself is refreshing and inspiring. It honors Romantic Comedies of the fifties and early sixties, which entertained without corrupting our souls.

I agree with the many reviewers who said the comedy and antics in this one were forced and didn't work, to a large extent. However, a scene in a unique restaurant was reasonably original, and one in a crowded car was somewhat cute.

Both leads were attractive and performed adequately. I don't think the roles were much of a stretch for either one, but that's o.k. They are who they are, like Doris Day and Rock Hudson were who they were. I'm sure both of these actors will do some more drama in the future.

What the film lacked was subtlety. It was so frenzied, and tried so hard to be cute, that I felt a bit edgy in my seat. I wanted to say, "Just relax and let me find out more about who these people are." Even a few more quiet scenes with heartfelt dialogue would have sufficed.

But I guess the makers were committed to a formulaic approach. The price they'll pay for that is that the movie will quickly fade from your memory. That is not necessarily such a bad thing, as it did entertain, kept clean, and left one feeling some sense of hope about love.

I prefer that to pictures that add to my cynicism.

I was in Rome some 6 years ago, and similar to Kristen Bell's Beth, got only 48 hours in the magnificent city, steeped in history, statues, and sights to just blow your mind away. I remembered tossing a coin into almost every fountain that I see, since it's practically monkey-see-monkey-do with coins just littered in the waters, though nope, no such luck in the amour department since I don't recall tossing one into the fountain depicted in the film. So I don't have such fictional luck like Beth, to be pursued by a number of suitors all smitten with her because she happened to pick up some coins placed in the fountain.

A typical romantic comedy, this one has infused some Roman superstition into it. Returning to New York from attending her sister's wedding (and comedy of errors I might add) in the fabled city, she soon finds herself being wooed by a street magician (Jon Heder), a narcissistic male model with almost the intelligence of Derek Zoolander (Dax Shepard), a painter (Will Arnett) and a sausage magnate (Danny DeVito!) who becomes Beth's patron of her museum programme. Each do just about the craziest thing to woo their lady love, because she had happened to pick up their coin from the fountain, and they have followed their vision and calling like the plague.

But of course she soon finds out that her one true love happens to be the best man at her sister's wedding, a pro-footballer turned journalist (Josh Duhamel) because of a lightning accident, but is skeptical that his advances are because of a coin she had picked up. So begins the did-he-or-didn't-he, and plenty of romantic moments weaved into the narrative written by David Diamond and David Weissman, who plays it safe with the usual structure meant to charm and basically to chronicle the number of hoops one has to jump through in order to woo one's lady love.

Like a typical romance flick, this one comes with a key message as well, which is addressing how one will know if one's falling in love with someone special. And I think it hit the note, reminding us that it's when we put someone on the pedestal and they matter more than what currently matters to us most (for Beth, it's her job), then voilà, we have struck gold, or rather, Cupid has struck. So unless you see the output on this site start to dwindle...

I've never quite thought that Kristen Bell would make the romantic leading lady, from films such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Couples Retreat, but she continues in the genre. Her portrayal of her characters continue to be the alpha-female type who is consistently unlucky in love, and I'm waiting for her to take on something new outside of her comfort zone in order to make everyone sit up and take notice. Until then, Josh Duhamel is someone whom I've watched transition from television's Las Vegas series to the biggest summer action blockbusters like the Transformers movie, and I think it might take a while before he branches off from action or romance, or marquee a heavyweight film on his own.

The rest of the supporting cast like Anjelica Huston's chief museum curator (a poor cousin of Meryl Streep's bitchy performance in The Devil Wears Prada), Danny DeVito, Jon Heder and the rest play rather one dimensional and breezy roles in this light comedy, also because the limited runtime doesn't allow for any depth and character development. The real star of the show is of course the limited scenes of the renowned Guggenheim Museum. Last seen on screen in The International where it was badly shot up in an extended action sequence, the museum goes back to showing off its regal presence in being a place and work of art, and puts itself into my books as one of the must-go places if I happen to make my way to the Big Apple.

The Roman Holiday this is not, but it has enough charming moments thanks to Rome and the Guggleheim, to make this an average but safe romantic comedy for its intended demographic to head out and enjoy.

Well, you may laugh, you may roll your eyes--you may do both simultaneously. Yes, it's a little cheesy; yes, the acting was not brilliant; yes, some of the gags seemed to repeat themselves. BUT, did I enjoy myself? Absolutely.

The humor mostly relies on a lot of physical comedy (people making blunders and bumping into things...), very little real "wit". I can't say even that the dialogue or the chemistry between the main actors was very good. But if you already know you're a sucker for romantic comedies (particularly heavily humor-laden ones, whether brilliant humor or otherwise), you will probably enjoy yourself. If you're the kind that is only rather surprised when you actually do find a romantic comedy you like, I really don't think you'll be finding it in this one.

No need to repeat the plot; the trailer says it all. And, really, with as simple a plot as it has, the trailer truly does pretty much say it ALL.

In short, it was relaxing and amusing (sometimes not the sort of amusing the director was going for, perhaps), and I enjoyed getting out of the house to go sit and catch a corny smile. Don't go if your demands or expectations are much higher.

Well if you saw the trailers you know the premise, girl in Rome decides to pick up coins from a fountain, which invokes the original owner when the coin was tossed to fall in love with her....

First, they missed the comedic opportunity to have ONE of those people be a girl, but whatever; I guess it is only men who toss coins in the fountain in hope of love.

What was on the screen was fine. The actors all gave comedic performances up to that of previous RomCom formula films. The problem with the film is what is NOT there. This film seems to suffer from being over edited and cut down to 91 minutes. We get a short set-up to TRY and empathize with the leads and we get no (and I mean ZERO) background on the other men competing for love other than their career choice, before watching them behave silly. At the end we get a very brief explanation of from where each love stricken pursuer life was prior to being hoodwinked, but its too late and provides no fulfillment.

The movie plays out many jokes and gags that have no pay off since there was nothing behind them. There are a few moments where a punch-line obviously had some meaning in the relationships of the characters, but seems unfunny as the meat and plot behind the joke is missing.

In the end, we get a shell of a movie, it has a nice frosting but the cake has been stripped!! It seemed like if they had left, some of what was obviously cut, in the film it could have been really good. But the final product we get lacks anything memorable.

Skip at the high priced theater, and wait for video.

A very predictable Rom(e)-com, that some might not even feel qualifies for the "com" tag. But that would a bit too harsh. The movie tries hard and it sometimes succeeds (imo) in achieving just that (put a smile on your face).

Kristen Bell and some of the men almost save the day. But the chemistry between her and the lead isn't really the best. It's also not the best walk on a line between comedy and romance. But still that could be called nitpicking. And why would you want to do that, if you can just sit back and enjoy this as a boyfriend/girlfriend movie experience, instead of thinking too much about it?

I think I might have overlooked a few flaws, just because of the likability of Kristen and the charm of most of the cast.