Blu-Ray Review: When in Rome
From Touchstone Home Entertainment
When in Rome
In this Roman Rom/Com, NYC Guggenheim museum curator Beth (Kristen Bell) has sworn off looking for love and is very career-centric. She's off to Rome for her younger sister's wedding and there she meets former college football star Nick (Josh Duhamel) and they hit it off big-time until she misinterprets his attentions to an Italian beauty, decides to drink off her depression and wade in a fountain.
Of course, the fountain is magic and when Beth picks up five coins from the water, they represent the guys who threw them in; guys who are suddenly crazy about her to the point of stalking. There is self-obsessed male model Gale (Dax Shepard), artist Antonio (Will Arnett), campy magician Lance (Jon Heder), and sausage king Al (Danny DeVito) and they all follow her to NYC to complicate her life. Problem is, Nick follows too wanting a relationship with her. Is he driven by magic too or does he really love her and will Beth lose her prestigious museum job while trying to deal with all these ardent suitors? 
Special Features: With this Blu-Ray edition you don't get a digital copy disc but you do get:
"Alternate Opening and Ending" - The opening includes Beth having an encounter with a dunk party animal and getting locked out of her fancy event at the Guggenheim. She tries to sneak back in. Kinda funny but it does nothing for the story. The new ending is pretty much the same except a mummy version of Jon Heder is "tossed in". Again, humorous but we'll stick with the way the original film ended.
The "making of" featurette, is called "Crazy Casanovas! Mischief from the Set" and it's pretty standard to "sell" the movie. Actors talk of all the fun they are having and how cool the director is. We do see the construction of an entire fake fountain built by the crew. Looks nifty. Kristen Bell's comedy skills are praised by her co-stars and director and we get a little bkg on the crazy suitors (each is supposed to represent various traits we look for in a mate... but taken beyond the max!).
In "Extended Pain with the Suitors" you get 3 deleted scenes (why aren't these just in the "Deleted Scenes" section?) in which the nutball suitors crash Beth's big museum event to plead their cases and tell her how much they suffer for her love. Beth tries to ignore them and pretend all is well. Kinda funny but we see why it was deleted.
Blown lines are contained in "Kerplunk! Bloopers from Rome". This includes Heder messing up some magic tricks, prop malfunctions, improv lines that don't really work, actors bursting into dance. Cute enough to watch once.
The "Deleted Scenes" run about eight minutes and offer an alternate intro to Beth's younger sis as she raids Beth's closet. There is more of a nude mural of Beth, there's more of the chase and advances from Al, mummification with Lance etc. Best of these are two scenes in which Beth tries to return the coins to a tiny model of the fountain of love in a gift shop. Doesn't work of course There is more hijinks with the suitors crashing Beth's big museum exhibit.
"Music Videos" are watchable with "Starstrukk" which features Katy Perry and one for "Stupid Love Letter" by Friday Night Boys. Okay.
If you can find it, an Easter egg feature has cast talking about the craziest things they ever did for love.
Wrapping Up: Pretty locations, pretty dresses.. pretty couple but this rom/com is pretty predictable. Some of the scenes involving the excellent comic actors playing the "under a magic spell" suitors however, are entertaining/silly/funny and hey, Josh and Kristen are fun to watch. Kristen is pretty good at physical comedy and, in this film, Josh proves he can slip, crash and bounce with the best of them. Not a gem but worth a rental and, for Josh and Kristen fans, maybe a buy.
