The Activist

Issue date: 2/8/10 Section: Arts and Entertainment

Trust me. If there's only one thing you can do for your Valentines this year, don't take them to see this movie. I know this time of year any movie being billed as a romantic comedy may seem like a sure thing, but it's doubtful you'll receive many points for this comedic farce.

The Premise: Beth (Kristen Bell), a disillusioned with love, workaholic museum curator, is preparing for the biggest exhibit of her career when she is greeted with the news that her little sister, Joan (Alexis Dziena), is getting married in Rome after a whirlwind courtship.

So, after leaving the final arrangements for her career making exhibition to her less-than-reliable assistant Stacy, Beth ventures across the Atlantic for a 48-hour foray in "the city of love."

While at the reception, she hits it off with the Best Man, Nick (Josh Duhamel), a somewhat disaster prone, yet incredibly handsome sports reporter. Deciding to take a chance at love, she searches for and finds him kissing a brunette by the city's fictional "Fontana D'Amore," causing their tentative romance to come to a screeching halt.

Having had her hopes dashed, Beth decides to drunkenly splash around the base of the "fountain of love," and before she is chased off by police, she removes five coins in a misguided attempt to save their previous owners' heartache'.

She is, of course, unaware of the local superstition in which anyone retrieving a coin from said fountain will become the object of desire of the one who deposited it.

Shortly after returning to New York, Beth finds herself being pursued by four incredibly creepy stalkers, I mean strangers (played by Will Arnett, Jon Heder, Dax Shepard, and Danny Devito). Another souvenir from her time in Rome is Nick, who comes to her rescue when her flighty assistant fails to secure the all important centerpiece to her exhibit.

But has he followed her because he is under some mystical spell or is it true love? Anyone who's ever seen a romantic comedy can hazard a guess.

While both Bell (whom I loved in TV's "Veronica Mars") and Duhamel are likeable enough and have decent chemistry, the film's uninspired, bland and extremely predictable plot, as well as its silly and sophomoric slapstick, is just too much to overcome.

Bottom Line: Take the money you would have spent on the price of admission and buttered popcorn and buy "Veronica Mars" or "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" on DVD. This option is less fattening and far more satisfying.

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