Movie Reviews: When in Rome, Edge of Darkness, Legion

SAINT JOHN OF LAS VEGAS “When I lived in Las Vegas, I had plenty of luck. The trouble is, most of it was bad.” So John Alighieri (Steve Buscemi) introduces himself in voice-over at the beginning of Saint John of Las Vegas — and, yes, the film is in fact loosely “inspired” by Dante, complete with a guide named Virgil (Romany Malco). Writer/director Hue Rhodes’ debut doesn’t really do anything with the reference point besides hope some gravitas rubs off. In detailing the long, weird odyssey of car-insurance employee John through his first fraud investigation, Rhodes watches as Buscemi — his eyes more sunken-in and cadaverous than usual — comes to terms with his gambling addiction and the no-shit revelation that, like many men, he’s destined for comfortable mediocrity. Getting to that point requires a putatively wacky journey through the Southwest with sullen Virgil — the fraud investigator showing him the ropes but whose motives remain unclear — that veers between occasional laughs and portentous drama. As for Dante: Does a carny whose fire suit keeps randomly lighting on fire (Harold Cho) count as suitably purgatorial? Mostly, Saint John traps good comic performers — including Malco and Peter Dinklage as John’s boss — in airless editing and an unproductive, unresolved, sludgy tone. (The Landmark, Playhouse) (Vadim Rizov)

WHEN IN ROME The bar for romantic comedies has been set so low that when one — especially one whose press materials boast "from the studio that brought you The Proposal"—doesn’t leave you with the feeling that you've witnessed onscreen gynocide, consider it a small victory. When in Rome is confused about what its lead actually does (Kristen Bell's Beth is supposed to be a curator at the Guggenheim, though the opening scenes suggest she's an event planner), its score is insufferable (Jason Mraz and Katy Perry dominate), and its plot is powered by dumb Old World hocus-pocus (Beth has fished out five coins from a fountain in the Eternal City and must fend off five suitors). But Bell, unlike Katherine Heigl and Sandra Bullock, who executive-produced their big-screen debasements of 2009, brings enough effervescence to the film that she's able to spark believable chemistry with a usual dud like Josh Duhamel, playing sportswriter Nick — who actually likes Beth and doesn't wish to change or humiliate her (and who suffers most of the pratfalls). Buoyed along by reliable scene-stealers, notably Will Arnett and SNL's Bobby Moynihan, When in Rome includes a nice disquisition on Picasso's Woman With Yellow Hair and homo innuendo that even GLAAD would support. (Citywide) (Melissa Anderson)