I Love You, Beth CooperMovie Reviews

Poster art for "I Love You, Beth Cooper."

Gifts + Promos

Give the gift of movies with Fandango Bucks Gift Certificates! Design your own gift card, or choose from our collection.

Buy Rock of Ages tickets to any Regal Theater Showing & receive a FREE song download!

Enter for a chance to win a wild family getaway to San Diego!

Need Help?

Avg. Critic Score: 32 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore^® based on all critic reviews

Information for Parents:

Iffy for 14+

Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

83

Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum
The story is timeless; this could have taken place when Doyle graduated in '76 -- or any year, really, since the effects of high school linger throughout adult life and nerds are forever. Read full review
50

San Francisco Chronicle | Peter Hartlaub
Isn't a terrible addition to the teen coming-of-age party movie catalog. It just feels dated. Read full review
50

Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert
Of the two co-stars, what I can say is that I'm looking forward to their next films. Read full review
50

USA Today | Claudia Puig
This leaden teen comedy is meant to be lively, but it's curiously bland. Read full review
40

Los Angeles Times |
Not a remake -- it just feels like one. Read full review
30

Washington Post |
Perhaps the best thing that can be said about I Love You, Beth Cooper is that the title is correctly punctuated. Beyond that, the movie is a disappointingly flabby teen flick. Read full review
30

The Hollywood Reporter |
Although the teenage audience is notoriously undiscriminating, it's hard to imagine many kids turning out for this laugh-free comedy. Read full review
30

Variety | Brian Lowry
Peaks early -- like, during the first three minutes -- and rapidly goes downhill from there. Read full review
30

The New York Times | A.O. Scott
Drab and incoherent teen comedy. Read full review
25

Rolling Stone | Peter Travers
Aiming for the heartfelt hilarity of "Superbad," I Love You, Beth Cooper is just super bad. Read full review

Metacritic link View more reviews for I Love You, Beth Cooper on Metacritic

Information for Parents

Common Sense Media says Iffy for 14+ Forgettable teen comedy has lots of sex and drinking.

What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this is a review of the movie shown in theaters and not the unrated version with an alternate ending available on DVD.Parents also need to know that this deplorable teen comedy targets teens especially since it stars Heroes cheerleader Hayden Panettiere. But the movie is full of consequence-free underage drinking and teen sex. Teens drink beer, hard liquor, and champagne (the latter supplied by parents) and drive after doing so. Characters have a threesome (though nothing explicit is shown), there's a running conversation about one character's sexual orientation, and teen girls' naked backs are shown during a titillating locker room scene. Language is notably strong for a PG-13 movie, including "f--k" and many uses of "s--t." The main character also gets beaten up a lot, and his parents are iffy role models at best, providing the aforementioned alcohol and essentially encouraging him to have sex.

Families can talk about teenage sexuality. How is it portrayed here? Is that realistic? Why would Denis' dad encourage him to have sex? Parents, talk to your teens about your own family's values when it comes to sex.
What about the underage drinking? Is it as common as the movie suggests? What are the consequences of drinking in real life?
Are the movie's stereotypes funny? Are all cheerleaders mean and all valedictorians nerds? Can you think of teen movies that don't follow these "rules"? How does this movie compare to the classics in the teen genre?

The good stuff

Positive messages: Yes, the movie is saying that high school need not be the peak of a popular teenager's existence, but there are a lot of misleading messages as well. Denis calls the crazy night of party hopping, law breaking, and hooking up "best night" of his life and the only part of high school he'll remember. And there are very few consequences for any of the teens' behavior; in fact, Denis' dad practically congratulates him on his wild night. On the plus side, Denis does help Beth feel better about herself and her future.
Positive role models: Although Denis is surprisingly sweet and gentlemanly, Beth isn't a particularly positive role model for girls. Except for the fact that she seems to listen to Denis' advice, Beth thinks nothing of exploiting her looks to get alcohol, driving so recklessly that she commits a hit and run, "teasing" Denis by revealing her naked body to him, and otherwise reveling in her "most popular girl" status. Denis' parents also score pretty low on the role model scale -- they provide him with alcohol for his (unsupervised) graduation party, tell him where to find condoms, and seem more congratulatory than angry when he shows up after being gone all night without word. There's also a lot of stereotyping of the typical high school movie variety -- nerds, popular kids, jocks, etc.

What to watch for

Violence: Denis is beaten up several times by Beth's pumped-up boyfriend and his equally buff pals. He ends up with visible, bleeding wounds and bruises. There are fist fights, jumps/falls out of windows, car crashes, and one humorous towel fight.
Sex: Several sexual situations and conversations, though only one actual "sex" scene ... which is a threesome. Two teen girls proposition a virginal boy and start kissing him; the next scene shows them all in bed together, with the sheets pulled up under their arms. Beth and her two friends also undress and shower in front of a guy, but you only see bare backs. Denis drops his pants and spends a scene or two in just his underwear. Conversations about erections, sexual orientation (one character may or not be gay), and misusing sexuality (Beth makes out with a clerk in order to buy beer). Plenty of innuendo and some additional kissing; at one point, Denis' head ends up in Beth's lap, and he sees her panties. Denis' dad tells him where to find his own stash of condoms and implicitly encourages Denis and Rich to have sex; later, Denis' parents are shown making out in a car -- when his dad's cell phone vibrates because a call is coming in, he proceeds to tuck it down his wife's skirt.
Language: Surprisingly frequent use of strong language for a PG-13 film, including one use of "f--k" and many of "s--t." Other words include "p---y," "a--hole," "bitch," "hell," "oh my God," "damn," "boners," "slut," "goddamn," "ass," etc.
Consumerism: Mostly cars: Toyota Yaris and Hummer. Other brands shown/mentioned by name include Suzy Qs, Eggo waffles, Spider-Man underpants, and assorted other convenience store snacks/drinks.
Drinking, drugs and smoking: Frequent underage drinking, including beer, hard liquor, and champagne (the latter provided by Denis' parents for his graduation party). Teens also purchase alcohol from a cashier who knows they're minors and drive cars after drinking (though it's never implied that they're completely drunk while driving). Occasional cigarette smoking; discussion of being drunk and what champagne "makes" one girl do (the implication is that it leads to sex). Discussion of cocaine use by Beth's older, angry boyfriend and his friends.

Common Sense Media An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.