Nick, the hero of “When in Rome,” is a newspaper sportswriter. Which I love. We love newspaper movies, here at The Buffalo News.

“I love your column,” someone tells him. He gets introduced to Shaquille O’Neal. “You misspelled my name,” the basketball star frowns.

WHEN IN ROME

Two stars (Out of four)

STARRING: Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Anjelica Huston, Danny DeVito

DIRECTOR: Mark Steven Johnson

RUNNING TIME: 91 minutes

RATING: PG-13 for some suggestive content.

THE LOWDOWN: A woman becomes the object of affection after she takes coins from a fountain.

Ha, ha! Shaq’s cameo is a kick. It’s also nice to see, at greater length of course, Anjelica Huston and Danny De-Vito.

“When in Rome” is a cheery mess of a movie. Beth (Kristen Bell), the stereotypical lonely and single career woman, is summoned to Rome for her sister’s impromptu wedding. She meets sportswriter Nick (Josh Duhamel) at the reception. He’s charmed by her ditziness and her New York scrawniness. They slow dance. But then she sees him kissing another gal, and she gets drunk and wades into a pretty little fountain they refer to vaguely as, I think, the Fountain of Youth.

After making a face at the cryptic statue, she begins picking up coins.

And that is when strange things happen. Men start falling in love with her, each one weirder and worse than the next.

This idea seems to have been inspired by the famous Trevi Fountain, where if you toss in a coin you are guaranteed good luck and a return to Rome. The 1954 classic “Three Coins in the Fountain” was about that. But the fountain in “When in Rome” is not the Trevi. By the way, don’t go hoping to see a lot of Rome. Rome bows out after the first 15 minutes or so, and then we’re back in New York.

At its best, “When in Rome” is a clever joke. Whereas the ending is the flaw in many romantic comedies, this movie’s ending is the best part. It is a little like “The Wizard of Oz” when it all comes together.

It’s too bad, though, that the movie’s cleverness does not hit you until the end. Meanwhile, it drags. You know the joke, and you have to wait for everyone to sort it all out. Frustrated, I began thinking it would be more fun if Nick’s rivals for Beth’s affections were not such broadly drawn losers. There can be a more entertaining anguish in going from having no love in your life to being unable to choose.

Also, there’s no getting around the sad fact that “When in Rome” is just plain dumb. One smarmy scene has Beth delivering Nick a lecture on Picasso in the Guggenheim Museum, telling him of a woman whom Picasso loved and dumped. “She never stopped loving Picasso,” she breathes. “And finally she hung herself.”

For heaven’s sake, it’s “hanged” herself. A picture is hung. A person is hanged. We all make mistakes, but a slip like that in a movie means that it went past all kinds of writers, editors, photographers and actors — and no one knew enough to speak up and say hey, it’s “hanged.” That depresses me.

If you can get past things like that, “When in Rome” is a pleasant hour and a half. There are a couple of good slapstick scenes, and Bell makes a fine ditz. There is one riotous scene involving a car and the Guggenheim. Also, there is no sex or nastiness, not one swear word and only two “Omigods,” if memory serves me. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

Keep in mind that this fountain, whatever it’s called, promises only love.

It doesn’t promise any more than that.

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