When in Rome Reviews
Film Journal International
When in Rome never delves deep into anything, but whisks us through the conventions of romantic comedies so quickly there's barely time to groan.
ComingSoon.net
When in Rome is an insipid waste; every ounce of potential has been steadfastly turned away from in order to make a safe little piece of clowning.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4.5/10
Daily Telegraph
You know from the start of Mark Steven Johnson's silly, sunny romcom how it's going to end.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
Flicks.co.nz
Despite the surfeit of clichés and apparent lack of any original thought in this hopelessly contrived rom-com, it remains a reasonably amiable exercise.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
Top CriticBell, a petite, pretty blonde, may or may not have the Meg Ryan-Julia Roberts-Sandra Bullock goods. When in Rome, a leaden variation on that rom-com recipe, fails utterly to make her case.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1.5/4
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
...we are expected to suspend our disbelief and accept that the adorable Kristen Bell needs some sort of crackpot magic spell to attract suitors.
Full Review
| Original Score: 77/100
Birmingham Post
On the up side, it has a decent cast, but class acts like Anjelica Huston aren't given enough to do. And Danny DeVito has to say awful lines like "There's not an emotion on earth that can't be expressed through sausage."
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
The movie lacks invention and true magic in the worst way.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1.5/4
Radio Times
When in Rome is watchable enough, albeit in a cheesily inept way, but is far less magical than its storyline.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
OK! Magazine
A weak rehash of Love Potion No. 9, with Love Potion No. 9 replaced by crack.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1/4
FILMINK (Australia)
As with most romantic comedies, this misunderstanding could have been resolved with a simple question, but instead the film stumbles along towards its predictably happy conclusion.
Boston Phoenix
Mark Steven Johnson exhibits neither an eye nor an ear for comedy - he must have been deaf and dumb to agree to shoot a script by Davids Diamond and Weissman, the duo who penned the execrable Old Dogs.
Full Review
| Original Score: 0/4
Indie Movies Online
There's so much wrong with David Diamond and David Weissman's plot that, with a nod to the Guggenheim Museum's spiral ramp, it's hard to know where to begin.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1/10
Comedies require precision, and there's none here; instead, characters and scenes bash into each other with no evident purpose or logic.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1.5/4
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel are so funny, quirky and appealing I'd love to root for them in a good romantic comedy, but When in Rome isn't it.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
News of the World
Number of record-scratch jokes? Three. Number of walk-into-a-lamppost gags? Two. Number of laughs? Take a wild guess.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1/5
Slant Magazine
A romantic comedy of such staggering ineptness that it actually makes one wish the filmmaker would redirect his attention back to the superhero genre he sullied.
Full Review
| Original Score: 0/4
