I Love You, Beth Cooper Synopsis: A nerdy valedictorian proclaims his love for Beth Cooper–the hottest, most popular girl in school–during his graduation speech. That very night, she shows up at his door offering to show him the best night of his life.
On graduation day, valedictorian Denis Cooveman (Paul Rust) uses his speech to call out a few of his classmates while also declaring his love for popular cheerleader Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere). Beth finds the speech kind of sweet, but it certainly rankles some of his classmates, including Beth’s beefcake boyfriend, who becomes hellbent on kicking Denis’s ass.
Denis and his best friend Rich (Jack Carpenter) plan for what they hope will be a crazy graduation party, but instead, Beth and her two friends are the only ones who show… at least for a while. Her boyfriend tracks her down and thus begins a wild night of crazy teenage hijinks as Denis, Rich, Beth, and her friends drive around town, getting into trouble and getting beat up.
And that’s basically the entire movie. If you’ve seen a coming-of-age teen comedy that takes place around the end of the school year, then you’ve already seen this. Chances are, it was a better movie than I Love You, Beth Cooper. Don’t get me wrong, this movie wasn’t a total train wreck. It did have some heart and a moment or two that I felt worked, but for the most part, I found it incredibly unimaginative and painfully unfunny.
The night Denis and Co. spend together is never-ending as they all drive from one misadventure to another. Denis begins to realize that the girl of his dreams is not, in fact, the same girl in reality. Beth is a terrible driver who does whatever she wants, motivated by her realization that she’s probably peaked in high school and has nothing but a rather ordinary, boring life ahead of her. This could have been something to explore, but it’s meant to be nothing more than a way for the nerdy guy to make her feel worthy and exciting.
At some point, the movie began to feel somewhat repetitive. Beth’s lunkhead boyfriend continually shows up wherever the group ends up, and I remember, at one point, saying out loud, “This guy again?” How often do we need to see Denis punched in the face by the same guy? The humor was pretty flat, the hijinx cliche. Denis’s friend Rich may or may not be gay, and plenty of jokes about it are made. Chris Columbus is a talented director with plenty of classics on his resume, but sadly, I didn’t feel his touch in this movie.
I Love You, Beth Cooper is just a run-of-the-mill teen rom-com that lacks originality. Honestly, the best part of this movie is Denis’s valedictorian speech. I enjoyed it quite a bit and had high hopes for the rest of the film after that scene, but alas, enjoyment was not meant to be.
Watched: 02/06/2021
Notable Song: Forget Me by Eleni Mandell
