SPEC offers students early screening of 'When in Rome'

SPEC Film wants you to do as the Romans do and check out a preview of Touchstone’s upcoming film, When In Rome, tonight.

Students from 30 different colleges, including Penn’s own campus, will gather at various venues for the chance to see the Touchstone blockbuster two months before it hits theaters nationwide — for free.

At 7 p.m., the Social Planning and Event’s Film Committee will show this romantic comedy in the Zellerbach Theatre.

This movie showcases a young and ambitious New Yorker, played by Kristen Bell, who travels to Rome for her sister’s wedding. She begins to impulsively steal coins from a fountain of love and is then pursued by a band of suitors.

“It looks horribly cheesy, but I want to see it anyway!” said Engineering freshman Jenny Sun, who is one of a large group of students expected to show up at the event. “Especially because it’s two months before anyone else will.”

According to Touchstone representative Lizzie Manganiello, the organization’s goal in hosting the event is not to get publicity for the film, but to gauge how students feel about the movie. This will give Touchstone insight into audience reactions before the movie hits theaters.

Manganiello said Touchstone specifically picked Penn as a venue to show the film because it is “obviously a big campus filled with smart, thoughtful and energetic, enthusiastic students who are influential in their own community.”

Screenings like this are very common for SPEC Film, according to SPEC treasurer and Wharton junior Adam Thompson. The studio contacts SPEC Film directly to ask to screen a specific film. The preview tomorrow is the fifth or sixth screening this year alone, he said.

Both SPEC Film and Touchstone acknowledged that this is a great opportunity for students. Due to extensive promotion on campus through “advertisement and media,” Thompson said the group is expecting a high turnout.

He added that there are so many students who want to attend the screening that SPEC Film may have to hand out tickets on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Manganiello stressed that When In Rome is not just a chick flick.

“Even though it is really cute, quirky and falls under the genre of romantic comedy, this movie is not just for chicks,” she said. “This is a movie guys will enjoy as well.”

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