"I Love You, Beth Cooper" -- what went wrong?

[Ben]

I loved "I love you, Beth Cooper" -- the screenplay.....

BUT....how could such a snazzy script get such heart-breaking reviews --??/

http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-07-08/film/i-love-you-beth-cooper-as-funny-as-a-hit-and-run/

http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/movies/articles/2009/07/09/20090709bethcooper0710.html

[mikeb]

I read the book.

It's basically the same thing we've seen hundred and hundreds of times before. There's nothing really "new" about it, and where Doyle's insane vocabularly and quirky descriptions can carry a book, I doubted it would translate well to a movie.

[bulldozer]

i don't care much about chris columbus and i couldn't care less about hayden panettiere.

i'm not saying they are bad artists, it's just that i haven't been moved by any of their works. the premise for this one will help maintain the trend, i believe.

i'll skip this one if it ever plays in my country, which is unlikely.

[Jenny]

I haven't read it, and didn't even know what it was about. I only knew that so many people on DD loved the script.

So imagine my surprise when I realized a commercial for a generic looking high school movie with that girl from Heroes was for the famous I Love You, Beth Cooper.

This is what you guys were all excited about?

[maralyn]

You'd be amazed at what they get excited by around here.

[Jenny]

True. I assume this Beth girl shows her boobs at some point? Boobs always generate excitement around here.

I can't jump on the Chris Columbus hate-wagon, as I have Adventures in Babysitting on right now. But I can say that Hayden Panawhatever does nothing for me.

[Cycstorm]

The novelty of Hayden Panettiere as a nerd lover who looks mega hot in a cheerleader outfit is one that got old two seasons of Heroes ago.

[spyder23]

This script blew ass.

Hayden Panetierre is hot.

That's all I have to say about this.

[winter dreams]

The novelty of Hayden Panettiere as a nerd lover who looks mega hot in a cheerleader outfit is one that got old two seasons of Heroes ago.

I haven't read the script, or seen the movie, but the part in the trailer that rubs me the wrong way is this whole notion that we should give a dang about whether some nerd bags the hot cheerleader. I just don't care, and more than that, what really bugs me is this weird duality that people are supposed to be more than skin deep, and yet what really matters is looks, after all. In the end, unless the nerd gets the good-looking girl, he's a failure. It's a sloppy, hackneyed theme that doesn't ring true.

Besides, I hate frickin' nerds! They should learn to stay in their place! :mad:

[Sinnycal]

It's good to be an Alpha.

[Cycstorm]

I haven't read the script, or seen the movie, but the part in the trailer that rubs me the wrong way is this whole notion that we should give a dang about whether some nerd bags the hot cheerleader. I just don't care, and more than that, what really bugs me is this weird duality that people are supposed to be more than skin deep, and yet what really matters is looks, after all. In the end, unless the nerd gets the good-looking girl, he's a failure. It's a sloppy, hackneyed theme that doesn't ring true.

Besides, I hate frickin' nerds! They should learn to stay in their place! :mad:

This is right. I guess this is their way of leveling the playing field. You can't make ugly people bueatiful so you have to have a story where beautiful people have insecurities.

[wcmartell]

As I said in some other thread - trailer didn't have a single laugh in it... and that's the best 3-5 minutes of the film! No other part of the trailer seemed interesting either.

It ranks 00.0 on the Tomatometer. As in, everybody hates it.

ADVENTURELAND had a nerdy virgin guy and a hot chick... and didn't go anywhere you thougt it might go. And it was funny.

- Bill

[Sinnycal]

Adventureland had a more appealing setting and a fairly universal "first summer job" theme going for it, too. This has nothing but stock high school movie settings and an opposite-of-universal "valedictorian confesses love to hot girl who inexplicably goes for him" theme.

Also, and maybe this is just me, but this trailer reminds me of The Girl Next Door, right down to the "guy with no clothes in front of hot girl's car illuminated by headlights" and "nerdy guys at party for first time" scenes. Except, again, this one is missing the interesting hook.

[winter dreams]

Adventureland definitely had more going for it. I liked that script (didn't see the movie), but still, the main story engine was a young (somewhat nerdy) guy trying to snag the good looking girl. The stakes in that kind of story just aren't high enough to sustain interest for 90 minutes. You'd have to have Caddyshack-level hilarity in order to get people interested.

[Madbandit]

The novelty of Hayden Panettiere as a nerd lover who looks mega hot in a cheerleader outfit is one that got old two seasons of Heroes ago.

The hell with that, Cy. "Chuck" has that aspect and does it better.

[Madbandit]

I haven't read the script, or seen the movie, but the part in the trailer that rubs me the wrong way is this whole notion that we should give a dang about whether some nerd bags the hot cheerleader. I just don't care, and more than that, what really bugs me is this weird duality that people are supposed to be more than skin deep, and yet what really matters is looks, after all. In the end, unless the nerd gets the good-looking girl, he's a failure. It's a sloppy, hackneyed theme that doesn't ring true.

Besides, I hate frickin' nerds! They should learn to stay in their place! :mad:


Aren't screenwriters nerds?

[winter dreams]

Aren't screenwriters nerds?

Huh? Wha?
:eek:
:(

[LaWizard]

I'll also add that the guy who's playing the lead looks like he's 30. They might as well have cast Luke Perry.

[Johnny]

I really liked the script. It had some good laughs. I could overlook the premise because the characters were so funny and real in who they were.

But it doesn't shock me this movie is probably getting panned and will bomb.