When In Rome is a silly little movie with a lot of heart and charm. The plot is outrageously dumb: Beth (Bell) steals five coins from a fountain in Italy and a spell is placed on the five people who threw their coins in looking for love. One is an artist (Arnett), one is a sausage businessman (DeVito), one is a magician (Heder), and one is a male model (Shepard). "But wait!" you say, "That's only four!" You are correct. Incidentally, Nick (Duhamel) is also in love with her, and Beth must figure out if it's because of true love or if it's because the fifth coin was his and he is merely under the spell.
Yes, I know, it is preposterous and corny, but it gets an A for effort. You see these men attempt to win her over with the most desperate and sad displays of affection. They try and try and try to please her but to no avail. And once you get past the buffoonery and circus-like lunacy, you find a smile somehow crept its way up onto your face. I don't know how it does this, because the writing is terrible, but the actors put so much of themselves into their ridiculous roles that you just have to love it. Some parts of the story started out blunt and obvious (e.g., Beth's love of her job over personal relationships), but further into the movie it became surprisingly subtle and nuanced. But by far the most surprising thing about this movie for me was how charismatic Duhamel turned out to be. It's easy to see why he's starring in all these romantic comedies nowadays. You don't have to watch this movie (but feel free if it sounds like your kind of movie), but you should definitely keep an eye out for Duhamel.
IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185416/