I Love You, Beth Cooper

Chris Columbus

Graduation does strange things to people.
At his convocation, nerdy high school valedictorian Dennis Cooverman (Paul Rust, right) decides to declare his love for one Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere, far right), the blonde cheerleader who is not even aware of his existence.
A series of contrived events then occur for the two to bond over the course of one night. While Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2008) explored how two people make a connection in a believable manner, this film has no such aspirations.
The one moment of truth in the shenanigans occurs when Beth realises that the best days of her life are over. This moment of downbeat clarity is so at odds with the rest of the movie that director Chris Columbus (2001’s Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone, 1990’s Home Alone) proceeds to drown it in mawkish sentimentality.
If not for the fact that Panettiere has hit TV series Heroes on her resume, this effort would have flunked out of school and slunk straight to video.

(ST)