‘When in Rome’ – Bell, Duhamel cast minor spell

when-in-rome

Today’s romantic comedies require the most elaborate plot devices to goose the “boy meets girl” formula.

Even their titles (“How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”) hint at the strain required to make these romances click.

So it’s oddly refreshing that “When in Rome” skips straight to the supernatural to set its fizzy story in motion.

That doesn’t mean “Rome” is a rom-com of the first order. But the film’s no-nonsense approach is as refreshing as its attractive leads.

Kristen Bell, the TV starlet attempting a big screen promotion, plays a work-obsessed woman who bemoans the lack of love in her life.

In rom-com terms, no woman is happy unless she’s hitched or en route to the altar.

Beth (Bell) is reminded of her single status when her sister gets engaged after a two-week courtship. So off Beth goes to Rome for her sister’s wedding.

She ends up meeting Nick (Josh Duhamel) a handsome sports writer serving as the Best Man.

They click, and then part in convoluted fashion, which leads Beth to frolic in a magical fountain where people drop coins to make their romantic dreams come true.

Yes, the sequence makes precious little sense.

She plucks five coins from the fountain, setting a curious curse in motion. The men who deposited those coins (Dax Shepard, Will Arnett, Jon Heder and Danny De Vito) are suddenly in love with Beth and follow her back to New York.

So, too, does Nick.

How can Beth shake her new admirers while trying to see if her feelings for Nick are the stuff of real magic – love?

If you can’t guess the answers to the film’s big questions you haven’t visited a movie theater in at least a decade. And Heder, so perfect in “Napoleon Dynamite,” continues to prove his range is exceeded every time he steps on a film set.

But Bell and Duhamel prove singularly charming here, rising above the hackneyed material time and again.

The nonsensical script does afford the cast several funny moments, and the sight of a smitten De Vito chasing the petite Bell is a sight gag that needs no polish.

Bell’s future as a rom-com starlet remains cloudy. She’s natural in a very unnatural setting, but her angular beauty might not be enough to win couples over as Meg Ryan did a decade ago. As for Duhamel, no such disclaimers are required. He’s impossibly handsome and comfortable on the big screen.

“When in Rome” isn’t particularly memorable or shrewdly crafted. It’s simply a fizzy comedy with two stars you don’t mind spending 90-plus hours with in the dark.