Beth (Kristen Bell) is a curator at the Guggenheim museum in New York. Her job is her life. And she loves her life. Everything is going wonderfully until she goes to Rome for two days to attend her sister’s wedding. There she meets Nick (Josh Duhamel) with whom she feels an instant attraction. But after seeing him with another woman, she starts hitting the bottle and ends up outside in a fountain. The fountain of love is where people throw their coins and wish for the love of their lives. Being the cynic of love that she is, she decides to take some of the coins out of the fountain and release those people from their hopes of true love.
Struck by an Italian Curse
What Beth does not realize is that by taking the coins, she has transferred the love of the people who threw them directly to her. She is now their object of affection and soon she discovers they want nothing more than to be with her. It’s a good thing they were all grown men or she would be fending off the affections of women and children.
Her new suitors are played by Danny DeVito, John Heder, Will Arnet, and Dax Shepard, who make a fun group of love-struck men. But Beth plucked five coins out of the fountain. Actually there were four coins and one poker chip. So when she returns to New York and receives a phone call from Nick, she assumes the poker chip is his because he does play poker.
The streets of New York have never been this delightful. True, it’s a typical romantic comedy. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl part. Boy tries to get back with girl. It is how they get back together that makes the story, and without the four additional suitors, this would not be as fun.
Fun on Screen and on the Set
With the scenes in Italy and the incredible Guggenheim museum, the scenery both inside and outside are noteworthy. The most hilarious scene is in New York City and involves the four suitors and Beth crammed into a tiny European car. Danny DeVito’s character asks, “Who makes this? Fisher-Price?” It’s like something out of the three stooges, but it is a hilarious sequence.
The bonus features on both the DVD and the Blu-ray include deleted scenes, music videos, and bloopers. The Blu-ray adds a behind-the-scenes feature with all the fun on the set. The cast and filmmakers reveal how much fun they all had while making the movie. From this feature it is evident the set was filled with laughter all the time.
As one of them says, there are three stars in this movie: Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, and the ensemble of suitors. Those whacky comedians do provide most of the humor, but Bell and Duhamel do their fare share of comedic scenes. As a matter of fact, at times Bell’s scenes look like something Lucille Ball would do.
The Blu-ray also includes an alternate opening and ending. After watching them it is clear why the director decided not to use the opening, but the alternate ending is more enjoyable than the one that is part of the movie.
While there are no surprises in this story, it is a cute and enjoyable romantic comedy.
- Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
- Running time: 91 minutes
- Rated: PG-13 for some suggestive content and language
