With all the teen-aged boys acting as bullies or nerds, and all the girls of similar ages painted as sluts, and both genders looking to hook up in a mass drunken orgy, we have "I Love You, Beth Cooper," in which nerds triumph over bullies, and coincidentally lose their virginity, on the night they graduate from high school.
Add reckless driving – its risks undoubtedly tempered by the use of a fuel-efficient compact car – permissive parents, a coach patterned after many I’ve known and general stupidity by all hands, and we have a summer movie for pre-adolescents, the only age group I can see as having many laughs. After all, it’s fun to mock one’s elders, isn’t it?
I admit finding one semi-funny line that sort-of sets a tone, delivered by Beth’s friend when the quintet is looking for a place to finish the drinking and start the sex. "We can go to my Dad’s cottage," burbles one of them. "He says I can use it any time I want, as long as I don’t tell Mom where it is." I guess that’s legit father-daughter bonding in California.
Hayden Panettiere, who’s been acting all her life (she’ll be 20 next month) is the famous cheerleader Beth, called out by valedictorian Denis (Paul Rust), who has been sitting behind her in class and has apparently fallen in love with the back of her head and the fact that she is a star as unreachable as Dulcinea was for the addled Don Quijote. Denis also says true-but-nasty things about some other classmates, teachers and coaches, so a lot of people want a piece of him after the ceremony, though Beth’s piece is different.
I sat through this thing. I’m not going to expose anyone else to the experience.
At multiple locations.
-Joe