‘When In Rome’ Perfect Timing for St. Valentine Season By Art Byrd edited by Michele Ristich Gatts

The story is about Beth, played by Kristen Bell (“Gossip Girl” and “Heroes”), a workaholic career woman. She’s a curator at the Guggenheim Museum in New York who is unlucky at love. After a run in with an ex-boyfriend who tells Beth that he is getting married, her sister, Joan (Alexis Dziena), stops by Beth’s apartment with news that she is getting married in Rome.

Beth travels to attend the wedding and suffers some mishaps at the event that are very funny. Beth is helped-out with her situations by the best man, Nick, played by Josh Duhamel (“Las Vegas” and “Transformers” 1 and 2). Both are clumsy and wreak havoc at the wedding. Beth and Nick seem to have chemistry, but then Beth sees him with another woman by the Trevi Fountain, also known as the “Fountain of Love.” Beth, who has been drinking, steps into the fountain and snatches a few coins and takes them back to New York.

The film does a great job in making the corny very funny and touching. Kristen Bell is simply a cutie. Who would not fall in with her with or without a spell? She is very funny and sweet. Josh Duhamel has the leading man quality in him – dashing but not overbearing – and he is very good at physical comedy with pratfalls and bumping into things.

There is one hilarious scene with Beth and Nick which is – literally – a blind date at a restaurant that specializes in darkness.

The film is a good romantic escape to lift your heart, and it’s a bonus that it takes you traveling to Rome.