Critic Reviews
I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009) Rank 5 Reviews
Expert Review Summary
based on (74) reviews
Click on the numbers to the right of the graph to see reviews of that rating
Reviews by Score:
E! Online
If the credits didn't say so clearly, we'd never have believed this movie was directed by uber-sentimentalist Chris Columbus, who's usually content to replace life's complications with simplistic smiles and tears. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at E! Online
Entertainment Weekly
The movie, directed with modesty by Home Alone and Harry Potter helmer Chris Columbus from a swell book and screenplay by comic writer Larry Doyle (Buffalo Grove class of '76), follows the fallout from Denis' barn-burning speech - a cheery night to-reme ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Entertainment Weekly
New York Post
It almost makes me regret all the times I stomped on the tracheas of debate dweebs. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at New York Post
Christian Science Monitor (Peter Rainer)
St. Paul Pioneer Press (Chris Hewitt (St. Paul))
TwinCities.com
It could lead a new batch of moviegoers to that classic film or, better yet, to the terrific "Beth Cooper" book. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at TwinCities.com
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Denis, ever the gentleman, reminds her that life is there for the taking, if you only are brave enough. And if that's all we learn in high school, it's enough. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Detroit News
Is the mildy salacious "Beth Cooper" still too prissy for modern times, or is she that old-fashioned modern girl teens will want to return to? ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Detroit News
NYC Movie Guru
I Love You, Beth Cooper manages to be silly, highly contrived and far from a classic, but it's ultimately a harmless comedic adventure with a terrific cast and plenty of mindless fun that should please its target audience: teenagers. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at NYC Movie Guru
Boston Globe
Panettiere, I'm sad to report, is a dud as the title character, a supposed wild thang who never rises above the level of runty, obnoxious mall chick, down to the roll-on tan. (Storm and London register much more strongly as her friends. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Boston Globe
USA TODAY
As high school comedies go, I Love You, Beth Cooper is barely likable. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at USA TODAY
Variety
One suspects "Beth Cooper" will nevertheless leave plenty of regrets behind, all around. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Variety
ReelViews
I Love You, Beth Cooper contains a share of effective elements wrapped around the core that, overall, isn't very good. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at ReelViews
Entertainment Spectrum
This movie, like the title character, is a tease that offers nothing new and original. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Entertainment Spectrum
The Globe and Mail
The movie feels like something parents want their kids to see. Harold and Kumar wouldn't want anything to do with Beth Cooper or Denis Cooverman. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at The Globe and Mail
Chicago Sun-Times
Of the two co-stars, what I can say is that I'm looking forward to their next films. As Beth, Hayden Panettiere is professional and lovable; she convincingly projects emotions and has a face the screen loves. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Chicago Sun-Times
Hollywoodreporter.com
Some of the stunt work is impressive, but a comedy cries out for smart jokes rather than convincing fight scenes. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Hollywoodreporter.com
Boston Globe (Ty Burr)
The Baltimore Sun
Luckily, Panettiere really does make Beth the cheerleader of every boy's dreams, as well as a flesh-and-blood girl who knows all the work, luck and silliness that went into winning that iconic position. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at The Baltimore Sun
EmanuelLevy.com
Chris Columbus represents an interesting case, a consistently bland director who has not developed his skills, technically or artistically. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at EmanuelLevy.com
MSN Movies
Beth Cooper, the main character in "I Love You, Beth Cooper," Larry Doyle's novel turned movie, is a fantasy for a high school geekasaurus like Denis Cooverman. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at MSN Movies
The Movie Boy
"I Love You, Beth Cooper" is a mid-summer delight, an honest, earnest, dryly cutting coming-of-age comedy with a soft heart where it counts. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at The Movie Boy
EmanuelLevy.com (Emanuel Levy)
Comingsoon.net
At this point, there just doesn't seem to be very much awareness or interest in the movie, and it probably would have fared better if it was released in the spring or winter season rather than getting a mid-summer release. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Comingsoon.net
Washington Post
"Beth Cooper" trails along like an extended piece of improv. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Washington Post
MSNBC (Alonso Duralde)
Empire Magazine ()
Scotsman (Mike McCahill)
Jam! Movies
It seems to want to be an edgy story, but it's just depressing. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Jam! Movies
Bangor Daily News (Maine) (Christopher Smith)
Sign the pre-nup so you can get a refund at the box office. "I Love You, Beth Cooper" has a few moments, but mostly it fails to show us the love. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Bangor Daily News (Maine) (Christopher Smith)
The Denver Post
Like the high school's bison mascot, this romp is lean on fresh laughs. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at The Denver Post
Philadelphia Daily News
Despite Denis' supposed ability to speak the truth and elicit it from others, I Love You, Beth Cooper never gets close to unmasking its high school stereotypes. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Philadelphia Daily News
Toronto Star
Even the most ardent devotees of Panettiere can disregard that Heroes line about saving the cheerleader and save their time and money instead. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Toronto Star
Charlotte Weekly (Sean O'Connell)
The New York Times
If fun is what you're looking for, you might want to avoid I Love You, Beth Cooper, a drab and incoherent teen comedy. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at The New York Times
Boxoffice Magazine
Here, not only has the material outgrown its relevance, the filmmakers are remembering it wrong. High school wasn't all that angsty or lusty for most of us. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Boxoffice Magazine
Miami Herald
The problem with I Love You, Beth Cooper is that aside from Denis' speech at the start, everything else seems familiar. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Miami Herald
Carolina Weekly
For a minute there, I believed "Beth Cooper" aspired to be an intelligent comedy that would nostalgically reference the upper-echelon installments of its chosen genre as it sought to blaze its own trails. It doesn't. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Carolina Weekly
Deseret News
"I Love You, Beth Cooper" is rated PG-13 and features crude humor involving sexual and other bodily functions (sight gags, references and slang), some strong profanity (including one usage of the so-called, "R-rated" curse word), violent content (some sla ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Deseret News
The Arizona Republic
Uncoincidentally, that's the year that screenwriter Larry Doyle graduated high school. We're guessing he didn't get the girl. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at The Arizona Republic
Redbox
Doyle and Columbus could have either made their film a full-on farce, frenzied and frantic, or slowed it down and made it a real look at affection and moving on in that summer after high school ends; flip-flopping between those two is just one of the reas ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Redbox
7M Pictures
So, in closing, let me say this: I sort of liked you, but not that much, "I Love You, Beth Cooper. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at 7M Pictures
Kansas City Star
Filmmakers have so long exploited the all-night post-graduation carouse that if you're going to use it you'd better make it fresh. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Kansas City Star
Cinema Blend
Then again, it's silly to complain about acting in a movie that's so poorly scripted (by the guy who wrote the original book, no less, Larry Doyle) and so poorly directed by someone who obviously knows better. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Cinema Blend
Susan Granger
Whether the fault lies with Chris Columbus' inept casting or writer Larry Doyle's formulaic screenplay, adapted from his 2007 coming-of-age novel, is anyone's guess. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Susan Granger
Chicago Tribune
If your teens express an interest in seeing this movie, make sure they see "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" too, as a sort of antidote. Both are wish-fulfillment fables spanning 24 hours. One is sweet, relaxed and amusing; the other is a soul-crusher. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Chicago Tribune
I.E. Weekly
Even when Beth's best friends Cammy (Lauren London) and Treece (Lauren Storm) have a threesome with Dennis' pal Rich (Jack Carpenter), all parties end up disappointed. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at I.E. Weekly
The Onion A.V. Club
What follows is a dusk-'til-dawn coming-of-age story in the Dazed And Confused tradition, though that's all the two films have in common. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at The Onion A.V. Club
PopMatters
I Love You Beth Cooper crashes because it can't decide how to handle its many competing conceits. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at PopMatters
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Suffering through "I Love You, Beth Cooper" is like being locked in detention with five idiots misquoting "The Breakfast Club. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at St. Louis Post-Dispatch
San Francisco Chronicle (Peter Hartlaub)
Belief Net
Parents should know that this film includes extremely crude and raunchy material, constant sexual humor and irresponsible behavior, father encourages son to have casual sex and provides condoms, extended conversation about whether a character is gay, thre ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Belief Net
Philadelphia Daily News
The movie does answer one question: What's director Chris Columbus been doing with his free time? Not much, it appears. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Philadelphia Daily News
Los Angeles Times
A flat, tired rehash of teen movie story tropes, the film attempts to have it both ways by winkingly acknowledging its secondhand origins. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Los Angeles Times
Rolling Stone
Aiming for the heartfelt hilarity of Superbad, I Love You, Beth Cooper is just super bad. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Rolling Stone
The Movie Kit
Pretty damn hard. If you've just crawled out from under a rock and had never seen any other movie of its ilk before, then maybe you'd like it. Maybe. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at The Movie Kit
Daily Mirror [UK] (David Edwards)
Time Out New York
It doesn't help that Rust is a sniveling nonpresence, unable to balance the screen with his female counterpart. In her first major big-screen role, the Heroes star conveys a strange, sad aloofness behind her sexed-up, car-crashing anarchy. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Time Out New York
Chicago Metromix
A caricature of teen life instead of an appreciation of it, the stilted, airless "I Love You, Beth Cooper" rigidly adheres to the novel's basics and loses all of the spunk, wit and complexity in translation. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Chicago Metromix
About.com
I Love You, Beth Cooper is an insult to our intelligence, an insult to the genre, and should be avoided at all costs. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at About.com
Orlando Sentinel
At least this should quickly become one of those blips on Panettiere's resume, a Leprechaun for the New Jennifer Aniston to roll her eyes about on Conan's couch a few years down the road. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Orlando Sentinel
PopMatters
Miss Cooper, on the other hand, is undeserving and two-dimensional, an object of desire, just as the film's title announces. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at PopMatters
filmcritic.com
Less geek fantasy than Disneyland, Columbus's tone is wildly inconsistent, swinging from PG gross-out to tearjerker often within the span of a minute. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at filmcritic.com
Time Out New York (Kevin Lee)
Groucho Reviews (Peter Canavese)
thescorecardreview.com
It's the worst movie I have seen this year. This movie brings up a lot of classics. None worse than Say Anything. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at thescorecardreview.com
Slant Magazine
Eventually, Beth Cooper tries to mine some sympathy for its stock characters via sappy speechifying and close-ups of Panettiere looking all misty-eyed, but this seems hypocritically at odds with the film's dominant tone. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Slant Magazine
Christianity Today
Here's the bottom line: Denis Cooverman might love Beth Cooper. But I don't. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Christianity Today
ReviewExpress.com (Michael Black)
One Guy's Opinion
At least Nia Vardalos' terrible "I Hate Valentine's Day" had the right verb in its title. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at One Guy's Opinion
Brian Orndorf
Perhaps "I Love You, Beth Cooper" was better off as a book, where Doyle was permitted to craft his farcical intent with some room to breathe. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Brian Orndorf
Oregonian (--)
I might forgive some of this intellectual and moral bankruptcy if the movie was actually funny. But it rather stunningly isn't. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Oregonian (--)
Film.com
In general, the dialogue is fake and sitcom-y, rarely amusing, and seldom well-delivered. As Denis, Paul Rust is spastic and overeager, a goony actor who needs to be reined in. He and Jack T. ...read the complete I Love You movie review at Film.com
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User Reviews
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based on (1) reviews
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by Tetramobile on July 17, 2009 New York, New York
This movie should have been good. It could have been good, but it wasn't. There are alot of smaller movies like this that work really well, but for some reason this just doesn't. I don't know what it is about this, but it's probably ...
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