When I first read the storyline of this film, I thought, ‘Hang on a minute, wasn’t this film made in 1953? (Roman Holiday)’. Such were the seeming plot similarities that I couldn’t help but hate it before I even saw it.
Thankfully however, WIR didn’t try to emulate Roman Holiday in the slightest. In fact, the title is somewhat ill-chosen because only about half an hour of the film is actually set IN Rome. The rest follows Beth around New York as her misbehaviour in the Fountain of Love causes her to go on the run from a number of admirers, including Nick (Josh Duhamel) who also appears to be under Beth’s spell.
As I was leaving the cinema I remember thinking it was as if a loved up frat boy and sorority girl couple got together and decided t write a film, piling not one but as many clichés as possible into every single scene. The only saving grace was the scenes between Nick and Beth, who, to be fair did have decent chemistry.
The ‘comedy’ wasn’t exaggerated enough to be slapstick, but it was too over played to be humorous, resulting in it falling uncomfortably between two stools, the space taken up by uninspiring, run of the mill Rom-Com.
Words: Anna Hayes
