I saw this as one of those "it's 11pm I'm not ready for bed what's this movie I've never seen popping up on the schedule" movies. It starts out like countless tween flix -- the crazy night between high school graduation and the the next sunrise that concludes the iconic teen zany hero's journey. It has parts of so many movies past -- RISKY BUSINESS, MY TUTOR, PORKY'S, ORANGE COUNTY, SAY ANYTHING, SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL, PRETTY IN PINK, SIXTEEN CANDLES, GRADUATION NIGHT, THE TO DO LIST, et al. The geeky guy, his colorful buddy sidekick, the unattainable sex/love object with a vulnerable heart of gold, the jealous brute BF, the fish out of water ritzy party, the encounter with wildlife, the encounter with booze, the cool parents, losing articles of clothing, you get the picture. What makes this one different? Not much, except that it's updated for 2009, and starring the then-uber-marketable girl who played the cheerleader in HEROES, a ridiculously muddled but popular tv series of its day.What saves this one from sliding further towards sucknosity is not-stupid acting, not-stupid writing and dialogue, and not stupidly impossible situations. Restraint and a modicum of adultness is what saves this one from being mock-worthy. It's pleasant, has some funny moments, tries not to insult your intelligence, and mostly gets away with it.

Warning This Review may contain Spoilers When I first saw this film I was expecting a film that would simply be full of large belly laughs and maybe a witty line or two. What I got was a teen film about growing up and realizing that sometimes reality is different than fantasy and sometimes surprisingly better. The film's lead Hayden Panettiere has the makings of a young Kate Hudson. She is able to make the most outrageous situation in this comedy seem plausible. The film's main premise is a valedictorian professes his love to Beth Cooper during his speech as well as make jabs at other characters as well most notably Stratford native Shawn Roberts as Beth's built army boyfriend. The film begins as a comedy but it is a comedy that likes to bring out little moments of drama. Small touching scenes that Ms. Panettiere handles very well. This was absolutely not the film that I was expecting. I liked it better then I thought I would. However it still has faults. It is a little slow towards the end but a great little scene on a dock brings everything right back on course.Overall it is definitely a film for the thirteen and over crowd but even adults can find a thing or two to like in this film.

**May contain spoilers* I was shocked to watch this film and see for myself just how awful it really is. All attempts at humor flop. I was off-put by a number of things. The girls that are Beth's friends- I couldn't figure them out. Nothing there? The boy that is the male lead's friend- why make such a big deal over his sexuality? That gets in the way of the main storyline. Rather than it being an incredibly fun or funny night, it's painful to watch this trainwreck. Normally I like Hayden, but this film is not normal...it's undefinable. I didn't buy him seeing the real girl beneath the Beth Cooper popular girl facade. How can he "know" her like that? Feigned depth where there is none-only surface knowing. I guess I mean to say the preview itself was better than watching the movie itself.

I am reviewing the movie "I Love You, Beth Cooper," starring Hayden Panettiere, Paul Rust, and Jack Carpenter. I remember looking at the previews of the movie a couple years ago and thinking to myself that it looks like the making of a okay movie. Hayden Panettiere and Lauren London is in it and Chris Columbus is the director, so how bad can it be. It also made me think that this could be your typical boy meets girls high school movie that tries to be way too funny. Then I heard there was a book out on it. When I found that out, I talk to some people that I know, that read the book, and they gave me a different outlook on the movie. They made me feel like it shouldn't be your typical "boy meets girl" high school movie.With that said I thought it was an okay movie. The movie is suppose to be about a valedictorian(played by Paul Rust) that is in love with a cheerleader.(played by Hayden Panettiere) I honestly laughed more than I thought I would.(even though I'm not a person that's hard to make laugh) I felt as though Hayden Panettiere might have been a little too popular for this role. She gave Coverman sort of a wild day, but I'm under the impression that it should have and could have been wilder. I think Columbus might have done too many flashbacks of their lives in this movie. Some of them I felt like were not needed. Like when Dr. Gleason (played by Andrea Savage) had her flashback. I just think that could have been left out of the movie and thrown into the "deleted scenes" pile. I also kind of thought that Beth Cooper was suppose to be the main character in the movie. Too often it felt like Dennis Coverman and Rich Munsch were the stars of the show and the two second kiss to get the beer...come on Coverman didn't have to act like that. It was not that serious. There were also times were Kevin and his boys might have came into the movie too often. Them coming out of nowhere during the shower scene was a little much. Honestly, the shower scene kind of wasn't really needed.What I thought was good about the movie was Paul Rust and Jack Carpenter's acting. I thought that Jack was funny and he had great timing, plus his facial expressions were on point when it came to his part of the comedy. Paul Rust also did a good job at being a nerd. Somebody that is too cool of a person could have easily messed that up. I thought that most of his movements and actions were on point and he did a great job. I feel as though Paul Rust and Jack Carpenter are going to be some good actors for the future. The soundtrack throughout the movie didn't sound bad either. For some reason, with these kinds of movies, musicians do a good job of coming up with songs that fit these kinds of movies. All in all, it's not the worst movie I have seen. I'm giving this movie a 6 out of 10.