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"I Love You, Beth Cooper" would like to be this year's "Superbad," a raucous teen sex comedy. But it's just super bad.
It's easy to hate this movie. There's a script that comes across like pieced-together letters to Penthouse magazine, misguided direction and a leading man who redefines the term dull.
Larry Doyle's pathetic script, based on his own book, deals with graduation night after school geek and valedictorian Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) declares his unrequited love for school hottie Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere). He expresses his feelings for her -- and other classmates -- through his graduation speech.
The aftermath is a series of events that are trite. Most of the plot points have Denis dodging the brutal assaults of those he offended while spending time with Beth.
Doyle's script never commits to making this a sweet romance like "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" or an over-the-top sex romp like "American Pie." His idea of a funny plot twist is to have Beth and her babe buddies sneak into their old high school after dark to take showers.
