The packaging for a home video release can often be very telling, especially the movie reviewer quotes that are on the package. Generally, the few the quotes, the worse the film. Another rule of thumb is whether you have ever heard of the reviewers before. When there are only one or two short quotes from reviewers who are not exactly household names, well, look out. Even worse is when one of the actors in the film is not listed in the credits. Well all are in play with the release that is the subject of this review, When in Rome. Would it prove to be an exception to these rules of thumb?

Film 

Well, not exactly. While When in Rome is far from a classic, it is a nice, cute and warm romantic comedy that is ,at best, fodder for a night at home with your significant other. In other words, the dreaded chick flick. I have seen worse and more even tedious examples of this genre but on the whole, When in Rome does have its moments, just not enough of them to give the film anything other than a tepid recommendation as a rental.

The film stars Kristen Bell as Beth, the curator of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, who shall we say, has been unlucky in love. She is shocked to learn after just coming out of a long romance that her little sister had been swept off her feet after a two week love affair and is getting married in Rome. Beth attends the wedding as the Maid of Honor and meets the groom’s Best Man Nick (Josh Duhamel), a New York reporter. They seem to form an attraction at least Beth does, who begins to think that there may be hope for love for her after all. However, her hopes are dashed when she sees Nick kiss a woman in a red dress and accompany her back into the wedding reception.

Beth confronts the sculpture in a mythical Statute of Love in the piazza outside the location of the wedding and asks her not to be so cruel with her. In the process, she removes 5 coins from the fountain. Unbeknownst to her, when she removes the coins, the men who threw them into the fountain all fell in love with her. When she returns to New York after the wedding, four of the men (played by Danny DeVito, Jon Heder, Will Arnett and Dax Shepard) began to pursue her, much to her chagrin, as does Nick.

By the time she advises her sister in Rome what she had done in the fountain and in turn is advised what effect that would have on the me who threw the coins in the fountain, Beth had already fallen in love with Nick. Beth was now certain that Nick didn’t actually love her and professed his love for her only as a result of a spell, just like the other four men. Beth has to decide whether to return the coins to each of the men, including Nick, and risk never having another man fall in love with her or live a life based on a lie with Nick.

I guess you can figure how it all works out without much trouble which is my biggest complaint with the film. While the film is pleasant enough, it is totally predictable and only mildly humorous. Like I indicated, your typical chick flick. When in Rome is accordingly rated as a rental only.

Video 

I must confess that I was a bit disappointed by the video quality here. While the film has a nice natural if a tad undersaturated color palette, it is a very soft looking film with below average levels of detail, especially facial and background details. Black levels are also less than stellar. As a result, the image on soft and flat looking, lacking the clarity, detail, depth and dimensionality of the better looking films on Blu-ray. Having not seen the film in the theater, I can’t really say for sure whether this is the result of the encoding process. I would guess that it is not the fault of the encode and just how the film was shot. While the film doesn’t look awful, it just lacks the level of detail, sharpness and clarity that I prefer and that looks best on Blu-ray.

Audio 

While I was disappointed with the picture quality on this release, I was pleasantly surprised by the audio, which had a more aggressive implementation of the surrounds than I had expected. While I wouldn’t go so far as to describe the use of the surrounds as aggressive, they were employed often enough to give just a bit of the sense of immersion that I enjoy so much at home. Most chick flicks have a very front heavy sound with most if not all of the sound coming from the front three speakers.

While When in Rome is a tad front heavy as well, the surrounds are engaged just enough to provide you with the ambiance required to make it feel as though you are in a real space with the actors, if only by a smidge. I found the overall fidelity of the recorded sound to be good as well with the musical score sounding the best, with a nice sense of transparency, imaging and depth. All in all, given that When in Rome is a chick flick, the audio was more than acceptable and even a bit of a surprise.

Special Features 

The extras included with this release are fairly predictable and not all that interesting. At least they are presented in high def. The extras include an alternate opening as well as an alternate ending for the film. It is clear that the director made the right choice in not using either of these in the film. In fact, it would have been better if neither had seen the light of day. Also included is the featurette “Crazy Casanovas: Mischief From The Set” which features the obligatory interviews with the cast and director of the film.

Also included is a set of extended scenes that didn’t (for obvious reasons) make the film involving Beth’s strange suitors entitled “Pain With the Suitors”. Also included is a gag reel entitled “Kerplunk”, and a very short untitled featurette where Jon Heder, Danny DeVito, Dax Shepard and Will Arnett are asked about the craziest things they ever did in the name of love. The extras also included two music videos, “Starstrukk” by 3OH!13 featuring Katy Perry and “Stupid Love Letter” by the Friday Night Boys. All in all, the extras are rather forgettable. The release is not BD-LIve enabled and does not include either digital copy of the film or a DVD copy of the film.

Final Thoughts 

You may find yourself looking for a romantic comedy to enjoy at home with your significant other in the not too near future. Go ahead and check out When in Rome but do so on the basis of a rental only.