johnlink ranks I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER (2009)
I say, without hesitation or shame, that I love Hayden Panettiere. My wife knows this, my co-workers know this, I know this. Would I have seen this movie if she wasn’t in it? Maybe not. But I did read the first chapter of the book at Borders one day and it had me laughing. It’s a novel I plan to get to when I have some reading time.
The movie starts with a dorky valedictorian declaring the film’s title at graduation in front of his entire class. The object of his affection later shows up and gives him a crazy and unexpected night out.
I watched I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER (2009) in theaters on 7.19.09. It was my first viewing of the film.
NOTE: THIS RANKING UTILIZES THIS SITE’S ORIGINAL SYSTEMIC ARTICLE WRITING METHOD. THE METHOD BY WHICH THE RANKINGS WERE ARRIVED AT, HOWEVER, REMAINS THE SAME.
FILM
I can’t think of a decent film more ruined by an able director. This movie isn’t horrible, but its not for a lack of trying. The pacing of the editing is not conducive to a romping comedy, and the film comes in a good ten minutes too long.
I read some critics were putting this film down as morally bankrupt. I didn’t see that at all. I thought it was a decent example of kids being kids under the crazy kaleidoscope of comedy. Ultimately, it is about a dorky kid trying to get a girl who is out of his league. I hope this is a good through-line for a story, and I hope it resonates with audiences because, well… it’s the subject of my novel. SCORE: 3
MOVIE
Would I watch it again? Maybe not. It has some good scenes, and it never bored me. But I also felt a lot of stuff (like the fight at the party) just went on too long. I laughed a lot, but it definitely got better as it goes along. It tries to have some heart throughout, and I think that this effort is what kept me in it. SCORE: 6
ACTING
Actually, the acting is good. Paul Rust is an effective dorky lead, and I LOVE HAYDEN PANETTIERE. It was fun to see Cameron from FERRIS BUELLER as the father in a crazy teen comedy twenty years later.
The surprise for me was one of Hayden’s sidekicks, played by Lauren Storm. The character should be a wasted stereotypical blond bimbo. And, in some ways, she is. But Lauren Storm plays her as a self-aware ditz playing to type to get attention. She made me laugh consistently throughout. SCORE: 6.
WRITING
Flawed. The story is good, and I blame the pacing more on the editor than the writer (Larry Doyle, translating his novel to film). But I will say that there is a lot of stuff that didn’t need to be in there, that a different writer may have left to stay in the novel. I think the most irritating of which was Rich’s propensity for quoting movies. SCORE: 5
BONUS
A rare negative here. The editing is shit. The flashback scenes are pointless and unfunny, save for the last one. There is a convention in movies that if you are going to use a device like a flashback that you need to use it three times to make it work. This is a rare case where we would have been better off with just the one.
But regardless of that choice, the music cues and the ins-and-outs of jokes are often clunky. I felt bad for the actors in some of these scenes, because it felt like there were some wasted performances. SCORE: -1
FINAL TALLY
FILM: 3; MOVIE: 6; ACTING: 6; WRITING: 5; BONUS: -1
3+6+6+5-1= 19
FINAL TALLY: 4.75
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