Cast: Hayden Panettiere, Paul Rust, Jack T. Carpenter, Lauren London, Alan Ruck, Cynthia Stevenson; Director: Chris Columbus; Producers: Chris Columbus, Mark Radcliffe, Michael Barnathan; Screenwriter: Larry Doyle; Music: Christophe Beck; Editor: Peter Honess; Genre: Romantic Comedy; Cinematography: Phil Abraham; Distributor: 20th Century Fox; Location: USA; Running Time: 102 min.;Technical Assessment: 2
Moral Assessment: 2
CINEMA Rating: For viewers 14 and above
Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) is graduating from high school and he delivers his valedictory speech. Unfortunately, he uses this oration to profess his secret love for head cheerleader Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere). His confession as well as other things he says does not sit well with Beth’s cocaine-sniffing ROTC boyfriend Kevin (Shawn Roberts). Meanwhile, charmed and flattered Beth decides to attend Denis’ party, together with friends Cammy and Treece, and gives him the night of his life. Denis and Rich, the only other guest of the party, try hard to entertain the girls but end up running away from a vindictive Kevin. On the run, Denis discovers that Beth isn’t the girl he thought she was.
On the one hand, I Love You Beth Cooper includes a strong and charming cast who embodies high school’s hormones quite well. There is some believable chemistry between he leads and support that you can almost sympathize with their sentiments and motives. Almost... because it gets there but never moves any further. On the other hand, the movie is flat and tedious. The script is senseless and fails to get the right tone and struggles between being gross comedy and sugary sweet teen romance. The scenes are tedious and boring and develops poorly.
I Love You Beth Cooper starts off as another teen-inspired romance but dangerously moves to show freewheeling sexual attitudes and choices that even adults will be repulsed. The line of morality seems to have shifted too far as characters ignore values and engage in offensive behaviours, willingly, Even parents of the characters cannot be role models. The heroes of the movie get drunk, trivialize drug addiction, engage in pre-marital sex, “threesomes”, nudity (though shot off screen), homosexuality, violence and bad behaviours. The theme of teen romance is overshadowed by toilet humor and sex jokes. Language is vulgar and crass. The movie is not worth one’s hard earned money and time.
