I Love You, Beth Cooper (film)

I Love You, Beth Cooper
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Chris Columbus
Produced by	Chris Columbus Mark Radcliffe Michael Barnathan
Written by	Larry Doyle
Starring	Hayden Panettiere Paul Rust Jack T. Carpenter Lauren London Lauren Storm
Music by	Christophe Beck
Cinematography	Phil Abraham
Editing by	Peter Honess
Studio	1492 Pictures The Bridge Studios Ingenious Film Partners
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	July 10, 2009 (2009-07-10)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	Canada United States
Language	English
Budget	$18 million
Box office	$15,821,907

I Love You, Beth Cooper is a 2009 comedy film directed by Chris Columbus. It is based on the novel of the same name, written by Larry Doyle, a former writer of The Simpsons. The film stars Hayden Panettiere and Paul Rust with Jack T. Carpenter.

Plot

On graduation day at Buffalo Glenn High School in Tacoma, Washington, valedictorian Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) confesses his love for long time crush and head cheerleader, Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere) in his speech while also taunting a girl, Valli Wooley (Marie Avgeropoulos), with an eating disorder, an ignorant bully, Beth's Army soldier boyfriend Kevin (Shawn Roberts), and urging his best friend Rich Munsch (Jack T. Carpenter) to admit he is gay. Afterwards, Denis invites Beth and her friends, Cammy (Lauren London) and Treece (Lauren Storm), to a party he has planned at his house.

At Denis' house, his parents leave with his father (Alan Ruck) revealing that he has condoms upstairs. Beth, Cammy, and Treece arrive at Denis’ house for the party. Kevin comes with his Army buddies vowing revenge on Denis. They attempt to beat Denis up, but it results in Denis, Beth, Rich, Cammy, and Treece running away in Beth's Toyota Yaris.

They drive to a gas station hoping to get beer, but are told by the convenience store clerk (Samm Levine) that they can't buy it as he wouldn’t accept the driver’s license Beth gave him and that she was 37 years old. So Beth bribes the clerk with a kiss. He accepts which makes Denis realize that she is not who he thinks she is. They then start a bonfire in an isolated section of town where Rich, Cammy, and Treece are chased by a stampede of cows after trying to tip one over. Denis then puts on the song Beth by KISS and is told that she was named after that song.

They all get in Beth’s Yaris and drive without lights. They then stumble upon Denis' father and mother (Cynthia Stevenson) having sex in their car by crashing into them. Rather than facing Denis’ parents, Beth decides to drive them away unseen to a private party at Valli Wooley’s house, encountering Kevin once again. Kevin challenges Denis to a fight as Beth crashes his Hummer H2 into a wall of the house. They drive away in Kevin’s Hummer H2 to the empty Buffalo Glenn High School and enter the school using Beth’s head cheerleader key. After showcasing their cheerleading routine, Beth, Treece, and Cammy decide to run to the girl’s locker room to take a shower. Kevin and his buddies appear in the locker room as Denis is undressing to join his friend and the girls in the shower. Rich challenges Kevin and his friends in towel whipping as he has been training for years after being towel whipped at a young age. They escape to Treece's father's cabin in Beth's Yaris where Rich, Treece, and Cammy have a threesome as Beth and Denis have their first kiss together.

They head to Denis' house afterwards where his parents punish him for leaving the house a mess. Beth says goodbye to Denis, gives him a kiss, and thanks him for loving her. Denis promises that he will see her at their fifth high school reunion and if they are both still single that he will marry her. After Beth leaves with Treece and Cammy, Rich proclaims to Denis that he might be homosexual or bisexual. Denis informs Rich that he was just playing about waiting until the reunion to talk to Beth again. He tells Rich that he is going to leave Beth a message on Facebook and ask her out. Rich disagrees with him and tells Denis that he should make a grand gesture by going to her house with a boom box and wait for her. They then begin debating on how Denis should go about asking Beth on a date.

Cast

• Hayden Panettiere as Beth Cooper
• Paul Rust as Denis Cooverman
• Jack T. Carpenter as Richard "Rich/Dick" Munsch
• Lauren London as Cameron "Cammy" Alcott
• Lauren Storm as Teresa "Treece" Kilmer
• Shawn Roberts as Kevin Micheals
• Brendan Penny as Sean Doyle
• Jared Keeso as Dustin Klepacki
• Marie Avgeropoulos as Valli Wooley
• Josh Emerson as Greg Saloga
• Alan Ruck as Mr. Cooverman
• Cynthia Stevenson as Mrs. Cooverman
• Pat Finn as Coach Raupp
• Andrea Savage as Dr. Gleason
• Samm Levine as Convenience Store Clerk
• Maggie Ma as Raupp's Sophomore

Production

In early 2008, producers announced the novel I Love You, Beth Cooper was to be made into a film, with Heroes actress Hayden Panettiere in the title role. Filming began in 2008, with a release slated for July 10, 2009. The film was directed by Chris Columbus, with the screenplay written by Doyle.

Filming took place at Centennial Secondary School, Magee Secondary School and at St. Patrick's Regional Secondary; which are all located in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The film's official website was launched on February 14, 2009 with a Valentine's Day themed "personalize your own trailer and e-card" widget that allowed for customization of the trailer and that could be sent to loved ones, friends and family.

The film was produced and originally to be released by Fox specialty subsidiary Fox Atomic, but theatrical distribution reverted back to 20th Century Fox after Atomic folded in April 2009.

Release

Reviews

The film was subject to many negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gave a rating of 14% based on 110 professional reviews. The consensus being: Heavily reliant on stereotypes and shallow teen comedy clichés, I Love You Beth Cooper is a humorless affair that fails to capture the charm of its source novel. Ben Lyons from At the Movies called the film "The Worst Film of 2009 So Far," panning it for its stereotypical portrayal of high school students and glorification of drinking and driving.

Cinematical stated that much of the dialogue was lifted directly from the book, but when spoken on screen, the lines fall flat. "The adaptation from R-rated novel to PG-13 film comes into play." In a scene where Beth and Denis try to buy beer, Beth offers to kiss the store clerk so that she can buy the beer but the viewer does not see the kiss. Cinematical calls Pannettiere’s performance unconvincing as a "rule-breaking girl who walks on the wild side".

Rolling Stone was highly critical of director Chris Columbus. The publication felt that Columbus flattened every joke and sucked the life out of the actors. In addition, the publication felt that Columbus's flair for sight gags reached its peak when Denis uses two tampons to stem a nosebleed.

Box office

In its opening weekend (July 10–12), the film grossed $4,919,433 at 1,858 theaters, which was enough for seventh place, and it finished its worldwide theatrical run with $15,821,907.

Soundtrack

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Forget Me"	Violet Columbus	2:50
2.	"Try It Again"	The Hives	3:30
3.	"Come Out of the Shade"	The Perishers	3:58
4.	"Sway"	The Kooks	3:35
5.	"Last Kiss"	Christophe Beck	2:44
6.	"Catch Me If You Can"	Gym Class Heroes	5:08
7.	"Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast"	Airbourne	3:43
8.	"A Good Idea at the Time"	OK Go	3:12
9.	"Beth Cooper Suite"	Christophe Beck	4:41
10.	"Beth"	Kiss	2:46
11.	"Cruisin'"	Smokey Robinson	5:54
12.	"Who Knew?"	Christophe Beck	1:07
13.	"Feels Like the First Time"	Foreigner	3:51
14.	"School's Out"	Alice Cooper	3:30
15.	"Forget Me"	Eleni Mandell	3:13

External links

• Official website
• I Love You, Beth Cooper at the Internet Movie Database
• I Love You, Beth Cooper at AllRovi
• I Love You, Beth Cooper at Box Office Mojo
• I Love You, Beth Cooper at Rotten Tomatoes