BLOGS
The trailer for I Love You Beth Cooper may make it look like your standard teen comedy, but there's just something about it that I can't put my finger on. Sure, it follows the same "beauty and the geek" pattern of films like Can't Hardly Wait, but the premise, the sets, the characters... something about it just screams "1980s" to me. I'm getting a little bit of Who's That Girl?, but I'm mostly getting a lot of Weird Science, which is, well, weird, because the film does not appear to involve two teenagers creating the perfect woman using their computer. (Although, if two nerds were to build their ideal woman today, she would probably look a lot less like Kelly LeBrock and a lot more like Hayden Panettiere, if not exactly like her.)
I had to sit down and really watch the trailer to figure out what it was that made me think of the classic Anthony Michael Hall film. High school setting? Check. Two nerdy friends who have no girlfriends? Check. Magical hot chick who makes wishes come true and takes our heroes on a magical night of adventure, regularly flashing her cleavage and even stripping to the buff on one occasion? I guess that'll do for a start. Panettiere's Beth already seems to be the perfect girl, which makes her calm acceptance (if not reciprocity) of Dennis' declaration of love seem almost saintly. Meanwhile, LeBrock's Lisa, being a genius and nigh-omnipotent, instantly understands that she had been made to be Gary and Wyatt's dream girl, and serenely tolerates that adoration like a goddess.
Then, Beth seems to take it upon herself to educate Dennis for the evening of festivities, and introducing him to the world of awesome parties and real girls, just like how Lisa takes the nerds to a club, throws them a huge party and hooks them up with actual women. (Lisa, by the way, never seems to do the actual deed with her creators. Does Beth? I haven't read the original book, but I doubt it.) Both women also take on a protective stance towards their charges; Beth protects Dennis from an aggressive, air-conditioner-throwing ROTC soldier and his two goons, while Lisa similarly protects her charges from Chet, Wyatt's older brother and an ex-Army goon himself (Bill Paxton in his finest role). Of course, the women also have wild sides: Beth is a reckless driver, careening down streets dangerously and actually hitting Dennis with her car at one point, and Lisa brandishes a gun at Gary's parents before unleashing a mutant biker gang on Wyatt's party.
These parallels are tenuous, but for some reason, they click in my head somehow. I guess the biggest link is that both are total male wish-fulfillment fantasies, where designing a woman on a computer makes her real and telling a girl "I love you" means you get to see her naked. And while Panettiere and LeBrock are total physical opposites, the look of Dennis' kitchen somehow reminds me of Wyatt's home, and the cartoonish hurling of air conditioners (while probably realistic for the more physically gifted) verges on fantasy for a 98-pound weakling like myself, which places the two movies on more equal footing. See the kitchen in question -- and a young Bill Paxton -- in the Weird Science clip below.
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I really liked the book when I read it (Evan Dorkin chapter drawings!) but hardly thought it was calling out for the movie treatment. As your article suggests, it's probably more original as written than filmed.
I seem to remember every chapter in the book had a random quote from some awesome 80's movie. The author was definitely influenced by films, and I loved the book. Hope the movie is as good as it is.
This movie is an over looked gem. I’m a little amazed at some of the negative reviews by the established critics. Sure it’s no academy award material but who would expect that in a funny and somewhat sensitive teen comedy. Now, I don’t really put Beth Cooper in the same category as Weird Science. Actually it is better than that but not up to the status of Risky Business or Valley Girl. It is a lot more enjoyable than last year’s Super Bad!
At least Zach Oat admits that he hasn’t read the book and implies he hasn’t seen the movie either (just the trailer). Perhaps the same isn’t true of the establishment critics as well? But, clear up a few points Beth’s boyfriend and two buddies are in the army not ROTC and he threw a microwave not an air conditioner.
Beth is an interesting character. She is really a blue-collar girl who has managed to raise to the top her high schools social pecking order. Her two sidekicks are from much wealthier backgrounds. (I’m using both the movie and the book as a source.) She has had to pay some dues in the process but has triumphed. Now it is all coming to an end with graduation.
Denis, the boy who has a big crush on her, really has a crush on his fantasy of Beth rather then the real girl. Beth is smart. Not 99th percentile on the SATs smart like Denis but about people. I have to think that somewhere in her mind the poor girl who climbed the high school social order is thinking this future doctor might be a better bet the future Iraq or Afghanistan combat veteran. I think that Kevin (the soldier boyfriend) sees this too and it really pisses him off …hence his rage.
The book is R-rated while the movie has been softened to PG-13. There are ways in which I’m torn between which treatment is best but since the author also wrote the screenplay there is a lot of consistency. So give this movie a chance when it comes out on video in November. Also, if you would like to see my review of I Love You, Beth Cooper on my website just click on the link.