Film

When in Rome

Name: When in Rome
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Released: 2010
Cast: Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Anjelica Huston, Danny DeVito, Will Arnett

Romantic comedy
Comedy
Light-hearted

A romantic comedy about a cynical New Yorker who accidentally enchants four men in Rome by fishing coins from a love fountain, then worries the best man's feelings might be real. It's a fizzy, consequence-light fantasy that asks whether you can accidentally fall for someone while they're magically compelled to pursue you. For people who want to feel warm and charmed without thinking too hard.

TMDb rating

3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy a breezy, fairy-tale romantic comedy where the magic is a cheerful premise rather than a rulebook, and you don't mind a parade of goofy suitors played for laughs.

Skip it if you find a fountain-coin gimmick tiresome, since the romance leans on coincidence and the suitors are broad caricatures rather than people with much depth.

What it asks of you: Ninety-one minutes, light and quick, with the attention of a lazy-night rom-com and no emotional heavy lifting; it moves briskly and rarely stops to brood.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Enchanted2007

A fairy-tale princess lands in modern New York and destabilises everyone's assumptions about love and happiness. It's got the same DNA—magic, romance, self-aware absurdity—and hits the same sweet spot between sincere and silly.

But The animated sequences feel dated now, and if you don't buy the earnestness underneath the winking, the whole thing deflates.

Legally Blonde2001

Elle Woods is underestimated and underestimating of herself, then chooses her own path anyway. The tone is exactly right: funny, clever, never mean, and genuinely rooting for its heroine to figure out what she wants.

But If pink and buoyancy make you queasy, this will test your patience. It never stops being aggressively cheerful.

Ghostbusters II1989

A film that knows it's following up a masterpiece and decides to just have fun with it anyway. The cast chemistry is effortless, and it's funny in a way that doesn't require you to pretend you're watching something serious.

But It's a step down from the first one; the plot doesn't matter, and if you hate slime gags specifically, you'll want to leave early.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from When in Rome

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Midnight in Paris2011

Both centre a protagonist escaping their real life through magical intervention in a beautiful foreign city, then learning to distinguish enchantment from genuine connection.

Owen Wilson goes to Paris and keeps stumbling into the 1920s, where he meets the writers and artists he's always worshipped. It's the same romantic wish-fulfillment as When in Rome but inverted: instead of magic compelling others to love you, you're compelled by the past. Both ask what happens when fantasy collides with real feeling—and both let you have warmth without cynicism.

But It's deeply Woody Allen, which means it's precious and self-satisfied in ways that grate. If you hate his voice, this will feel insufferable within ten minutes.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days2003

Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson have such easy rapport that their bickering feels like dancing. The premise is daft but the execution is charming, and it knows exactly what it is.

But The central bet is a bit icky when you think about it, and the film doesn't ask you to think about it. It's pure surface.

It's Complicated2009

Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin are divorced and accidentally re-falling into each other, and watching two brilliant actors play against type with such warmth is genuinely delightful.

But The supporting cast is sketched too lightly, and it occasionally forgets what it was saying halfway through a scene.

The Ugly Truth2009

Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler argue about love and attraction while genuinely seeming to dislike each other. The chemistry-from-antagonism formula works, and it's not afraid to be a bit crude.

But The gender politics are messy and the film doesn't care to untangle them. It can feel a bit mean-spirited under the flirtation.

Sabrina1995

Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond in a Parisian-set remake of a screwball comedy about class and love. It's fluffy but made with real craft and genuine affection for the source material.

But It trades the original's edge for sweetness, and Harrison Ford playing romantic lead is an acquired taste. Some of it feels airbrushed.

She's Out of My League2010

A genuinely funny underdog romance where the joke isn't that the woman is too pretty; it's about two people learning each other's insecurities. Released the same year, it's more grounded but shares the warmth.

But The bro culture can be grating and the film occasionally endorses ideas about women it shouldn't. It's uneven in its sensibility.

A Lot Like Love2005

Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet meet on a flight, sleep together, then keep bumping into each other over years. It has a lovely sprawl and a genuine melancholy underneath the rom-com machinery.

But It's slack and episodic; scenes don't connect tightly and you'll feel the runtime. The ending won't surprise you at all.

The Hudsucker Proxy1994

Both are comedies about good-natured chaos in a male-dominated world, where the heroine/hero's refusal to be cynical turns out to be the point, not the joke.

The Coen Brothers made a screwball comedy in black and white, and it's absolutely bonkers—spinning-chair gags, physical comedy, Tim Robbins being brilliantly guileless, Jennifer Jason Leigh as a reporter with a recorder stuck in her hat. It has When in Rome's same sweet-natured chaos but turbocharged: faster, zanier, with real visual invention.

But It's aggressively artificial and the pace is relentless; if you want to settle into a story, this won't let you. Some of the jokes land harder than others and it never apologises for the weird ones.

Amélie2001

Both use a magical-realist Rome/Paris setting to tell stories about lonely people learning to take emotional risks, though Amélie treats the magic as something quieter and more internal.

A young woman in Paris decides to change people's lives through small interventions, and the city becomes a character in itself. It's Paris-set romance with magical thinking, but it's darker and quieter than When in Rome—more about loneliness than attraction. Visually it's in another league: every frame is a painting, and underneath the whimsy is something genuinely sad about connection.

But It can feel cloying and the whimsy is relentless. If you tire of the fairy-tale aesthetic, it's two hours of it with no relief; the melancholy underneath doesn't quite balance the cuteness.