I Love You, Beth Cooper is a 2009 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Chris Columbus and starring Hayden Panettiere and Paul Rust.
On graduation day at Buffalo Glenn High School, valedictorian Denis Cooverman confesses his love for head cheerleader and long time crush, beautiful Beth Cooper, in his speech while also taunting vain rich girl Valli, ignorant bully Greg, and Beth's Army soldier boyfriend Kevin; and urging his best friend Rich to finally admit he is gay.
The group starts 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.
Greg briefly overpowers the three, in defence of Denis, then Beth crashes Kevin's Hummer through the front of Valli's house and rescues her four friends.
In early 2008, producers announced the novel I Love You, Beth Cooper would be made into a film, with actress Hayden Panettiere in the title role.
The site's consensus states: "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.
[16][17] Simon Foster bashed the film as a star vehicle for Panettiere;[12] Cinematical.com found her unconvincing as a rebellious girl,[16] while Kaleem Aftab of The National opined that she made the character look more like a "spoiled brat".
[11] "She's photogenic, granted, but dimensionless and has minimal screen presence—the final reel about-face that is synonymous with these types of films rings as false as a plastic bell", wrote Foster.
[12] According to Thomas Leupp of Hollywood.com, "Panettiere is appealing as a bright-eyed cheerleader whose perky exterior hides a bad-girl streak, but she doesn't quite project that unattainable quality the role seems to call for.
"[19] Leupp commented that Rust "attempts to compensate for the flat material he's given by overplaying virtually every joke—to the point at which you'll actually root for his antagonists to pummel him without mercy.
Brought-up examples in reviews included the tampon nosebleed scene,[20][17][23] Rich's referencing of movie quotes,[20][24] an off-screen threesome,[20] a Star Wars lightsaber fight,[23][25] a moment where a character steps in cow poop,[20][23] and "all comedy pratfalls followed by some excruciating silences where you're meant to be laughing.
"[23] While Columbus' dip into edgier material was applauded by The Independent's Anthony Quinn,[22] it wasn't by Thomas, who unfavorably labeled it a "curiously chaste affair [...] that feels curiously unsure of itself, as if Columbus wants to take that extra step into slightly raunchier, Risky Business-style material, but just can't bring himself to.
"[20] Rainer and Can Mag writer Fred Topel were turned off by the film's comic portrayal of life-endangering situations,[24] such as sequences depicting Beth's poor driving skills.
[26] Simon Foster strongly disliked its removal of the genre's traditional "all-important sweetness": "It is not a step forward in teen movie scriptwriting to expose a school bully's history as a sexual abuse victim for mirth, or to make a running gag out of one student's closeted homosexuality, nor pitch the felonious actions of the blonde teen queen as the height of coolness.
"[12] In the mind of Allan Hunter of the Daily Express, "the mixture of obvious jokes and winsome sentiment pretty much robs the film of any guilty pleasure value it might have provided.