PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
When in Rome (Blu-ray) (2010)

When in Rome (Blu-ray) (2010)

If you create a user account, you can add your own review of this DVD

Released 7-Sep-2010

Cover Art

This review is sponsored by
BUY IT

Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Comedy Main Menu Audio & Animation
Alternate Ending-& Opening
Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Crazy Cassanovas
Deleted Scenes-Extended Pain with the Suitors
Deleted Scenes
Outtakes
Music Video-Startrukk
Music Video-Stupid Love Letter
Rating Rated PG
Year Of Production 2010
Running Time 90:47
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By Mark Steven Johnson
Studio
Distributor

Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.
Starring Kristen Bell
Josh Duhamel
Anjelica Huston
Will Arnett
Jon Heder
Dax Shepard
Case Amaray Variant
RPI $49.95 Music Christopher Young


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 EX
English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
French Dolby Digital 5.1 (640Kb/s)
Spanish dts 5.1 (1536Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Not 16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
English for the Hearing Impaired
French
Spanish
Portuguese
Swedish
Norwegian
Danish
Finnish
Icelandic
Hindi
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement Yes
Action In or After Credits Yes

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     Young museum curator Beth (Kristen Bell) is married to her job at the Guggenheim. When she attends her sister's wedding in Rome, she imagines being married to a fun young man she meets, sports writer Nick (Josh Duhamel), but is mislead into thinking he is already attached when she prepares to make her move. A few drinks later she thinks it is a good idea to celebrate her loneliness in the "Fountain of Love" and liberate a few wishing coins as she does so. Little does she know that any woman who removes a coin from the fountain will have the wisher who threw that coin fall madly in love with her. At least little does she know until a ridiculous street magician (Jon Heder), a sleazy male model (Dax Shepard), a lovelorn Italian artist (Will Arnett) and a wealthy sausage-maker (Danny DeVito) all appear in her life desperately trying to win her affections. Beth must contend with these misplaced affections whilst trying to sort out her big show at the Guggenheim, and win Nick's affections herself.

     Kristen Bell is an actress I would happily watch in anything. She even brought enough interest to the woeful Pulse to make it bearable. From the awfully bland airbrushed cover of this disc I expected When In Rome to be a film that may lead me to reassess this blanket acceptance of her works. It didn't. The film was a slightly offbeat formulaic romantic comedy that ticked all the boxes it needed to as light entertainment. The reasonably big supporting cast are well chosen and ultimately make the movie, even if they seem to be just going through the motions at times (Danny DeVito, you're on notice). Bell is the delight she always is. Even that bloke from Transformers does a reasonably job as the primary love interest.

     When In Rome is silly popcorn fun that should appease fans of wacky rom coms.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

     The film is presented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio in 1080p The video looks good. The colours are eye-poppingly bold and the image features good black levels and shadow detail. Aside from moderate edge enhancement the video features no unpleasant artefact or issues

     The film includes optional subtitles for the hearing impaired, which appear to be accurate and well timed based on the portion sampled.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The film features the choice of English DTS HD MA 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish DTS 5.1 and English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 language tracks. The audio is decent. The mix is clean. The dialogue is clear and easy to understand and well placed in the mix. There are no audio sync issues.

     The film features a bubbly orchestral score by Christopher Young, aided by a good selection of pop/rock tunes.

     The surrounds are reasonably well used and liven up some of the wackier scenes. The subwoofer does not get a lot of play, but is reasonably used when it is called for.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Alternate Opening & Ending Scenes (7:16)

     Substantially different opening and closing scenes for the film. Oddly, whilst these scenes are completely different to those featured in the film, they are set in the same locations and lead to the same general events.

Crazy Casanovas: Mischief From The Set Featurette (12:27)

     A bland EPK-style featurette, which features one or two decent interviews amidst a lot of filler.

Extended Pain With the Suitors deleted scenes (2:38)

     Three additional scenes featuring three of Beth's suitors/stalkers "helping" with her exhibition. Funny stuff.

Bloopers (3:06)

     Bland bloopers. Pass.

Deleted Scenes (7:44)

     A swag of deleted scenes. Several of these scenes feature a completely removed character, a madcap assistant to Jon Heder’s magician who seems to have been removed in favour of inserting a couple (literally) of cameo appearances from Heder’s Napoleon Dynamite sidekick Efren Ramirez. An altogether odd choice as these deleted scenes add quite a bit of extra zing to Heder’s character and only further cement the typecasting his career has suffered since that cult hit.

Starstrukk by 30H3! feat. Katy Perry Music Video

     An insipid dance pop tune and an uninspired video. Pass.

Stupid Love Letter by Friday Night Boys Music Video

     Modern pop/punk by numbers with a music video to match. I'm sure they've just borrowed the video itself from one of their peers and just inserted the odd clip from When In Rome just to distinguish it for DJays around the world.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     The Region B edition is identical to the US Region A edition in terms of content. The Region B disc is formatted for all regions.

     The Blu-ray edition includes a number of features not on the DVD; the alternate opening and ending, on-set featurette and some of the other deleted scenes do not feature on the DVD.

Summary

     When In Rome is a silly popcorn rom com that makes for a fun night in. The video and audio are decent. The extras are OK, but are mostly an exhaustive range of deleted scenes (I hate to think how many times this film was re-shot) and bloopers.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Adam Gould (Totally Biolicious!)
Monday, November 22, 2010
Review Equipment
DVDSony Playstation 3, using HDMI output
DisplayOptoma HD20 Projector. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderPioneer VSX2016AVS. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials.
AmplificationPioneer VSX2016AVS
Speakers150W DTX front speakers, 100W centre and 4 surround/rear speakers, 12 inch PSB Image 6i powered sub

Other Reviews NONE