tries its best to be the type of romantic comedy that utilizes charm and humor to make its way into the hearts of teenage girls everywhere. Unfortunately, it fails. The film is about as predictable and unfunny as humanly possible. It has all the variables necessary for a romantic comedy; the workaholic, jaded girl, played by Kristen Bell, meets the nice, handsome boy, played by Josh Duhamel. Unfortunately, in the case of this film, the equation just doesn’t work.
Bell’s character Beth, an extreme workaholic, focuses on her burgeoning career as the youngest art curator at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. She has had terrible luck with boys in the past and has given up on love as a result.
After being humiliated by an ex-boyfriend at one of her art shows, Beth goes home to find that her sister Joan (played by Alexis Dziena) is getting married in Rome, Italy to an Italian guy she has only known for two weeks. Beth agrees to go to the wedding, where she meets the best man Nick, Duhamel’s character, and they instantly hit it off.
Unfortunately, when she tries to make a move on the best man, she sees him kissing another girl. Beth becomes disheartened and turns to the Fountain of Love outside the wedding chapel for help. After drinking from the fountain, Beth ends up drunkenly stealing five coins from it before being chased out by police. The owners of these coins all end up magically falling in love with Beth, and they begin to follow her around obsessively in the hopes of winning her heart. This premise is cheesy enough, but to make matters worse, every one of the four hopeful suitors (the fifth coin is never even accounted for) are very one-dimensional and unfunny.
Will Arnett plays an uninspired tortured artist with a fake Italian accent that gets really annoying throughout the film. The character also fails to deliver any whimsical lines whatsoever. Jon Heder plays a street magician, who is, without a doubt, the weakest link among the four suitors. Heder’s character is so awkward and dull it is painful to watch. Dax Shepard plays an egotistical male model who is so full of himself it’s irritating. Last but not least there’s Danny Devito who plays a sausage mogul. All four of these characters have no depth to them and are simply unfunny caricatures.
As unbelievable as the fact that Bell’s character cannot find a guy to date, the lack of a girlfriend in the life of Duhamel’s character is even more surreal.
Furthermore, the chemistry between the two is barely there. Although, to be fair, they have very few scenes to develop any real feelings from due to constantly being ripped apart by unfunny circumstances.
Beth tries to avoid the other four suitors and develops a relationship with Nick, but that all falls apart when she realizes that Nick may be affected by the same spell, forcing her to figure out whether his love is real or not.
While the script is just not very inspiring, director Mark Steven Johnson tries his best to make it work. The movie progresses at a steady pace and there are notably a few small moments of charm and humor.
Unfortunately, these moments are often dragged out until they become exhausted, such as when Beth has to break the vase at her sister’s wedding. The first few seconds of it are humorous, but then it gets old really quick.
There are also a lot of whimsical moments that seem random and sloppy, such as Nick constantly walking into trees or a random trip to a restaurant where you dine in the dark. It could have turned out funny, but it ends up pretty random and awkward as they clumsily bump into tables and deal with an extremely creepy waitress.
While a lot about this movie fails, Bell at least tries earnestly to make it work. It’s not her fault the script is so terribly lackluster.
Duhamel is not quite so successful on the other hand. His timings are generally a bit off and he has few original lines. It was hard to find him believable as such a nice and wholesome guy.
Overall, this movie is definitely not worth seeing in theatres. Rent it if you’re bored one night. It has a few laughs, but you have to dig through all the unfunny and awkward moments to find them.