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I Love You, Beth Cooper
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Ethan C. Stevenson (8th November 2009). |
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The Film
 I don’t love you, Beth Cooper. In fact, it’s quite the opposite really. I won’t say I hate, as that’s probably too strong of a word, but I will admit to strongly disliking you, and the unimaginative, unoriginal film that shares your namesake. A banal introduction that may be, but it’s no more cliché-ridden than the film herein reviewed. “I Love You, Beth Cooper,” based on the book of the same name by Larry Doyle, is the story of Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) and what happens when he says those 5 little words to the girl of his dreams, the hottest, most popular girl in the school, Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere), during his Valedictorian speech. Although he immediately regrets uttering the phrase and delivering the disastrous tangent that follows, what’s done is done, and without it, there would be no movie. At his post graduation get-together, which is not so much a party, as it is just Denis and his best friend, Rich Munch (Jack Carpenter), eagerly awaiting the arrival of Beth, who, up until Denis’ speech, had no idea that he even existed, and her friends, who, in all likelihood, will never show up. But, then again, without Beth’s arrival, there would be no movie, so, she and her two friends (Lauren London and Lauren Storm) do finally appear, and with them, high-jinks ensue. The unlikely cast of characters hit out for a night on the town, with Beth’s raging, cocaine-fueled, boyfriend (Shawn Roberts) and his posse of JROTC lackeys in tow. The army buddies are on a mission to hunt down Beth and make a habit of showing up at seemingly every turn in our heroes journey, to not only recapture Beth, but to put the beat down on Denis and Rich as well. Does the script have the tough-guy that used to be the lead enemy, only to come to his aid when the other tough guy, who really is the villain, comes knocking? How about the über-geeky sidekick to the equally geeky male lead? The hot cheerleader who’s a bit more complex than her vain exterior puts on? Is there a high school party that’s full of debauchery and fun? Of course there has to be the obligatory locker-room shower scene, right? And another one where they try to buy alcohol with fake ID's? The answer to all of the above is yes. “I Love You, Beth Cooper” works exactly the way you think it will, because it’s the unneeded regurgitation of material we’ve been fed for over two decades. This film is as unoriginal as they come. Need more proof? Then look at these questions: does Beth realize that the nerdy, awkward Denis may actually be the right kind of guy for her? Does Denis get the girl of his dreams? Does Rich Munch finally lose his virginity, a quest that he’s been on for sometime, which has become especially important to him as he heads off to college? As you read those last three, I am sure that you already knew the answer to those questions. Why? Because, you’ve seen this all before, that’s why. “I Love You, Beth Cooper” goes nowhere new with the genre, does nothing out of the ordinary for the teen comedy, and, really doesn’t even do the mundane repetition of things we’ve seen before, all that well. It’s not really surprising that the film is as clichéd as it is; the book on which it is based was written by Larry Doyle, already an accomplished writer for “The Simpsons” (1989-Present) and “Beavis and Butthead” (1993-1997), as a critique of the teen sex-comedy genre. In the film's supplements Doyle admits that he purposely tried to fill the story with as much clichéd irony as was humanly possible, throwing in bits of “Sixteen Candles” (1984), “The Breakfast Club” (1985) all of John Hughes’ films really, along with “Risky Business” (1983) and countless others, to create the most overdone, comically hackneyed thing imaginable. In the book, it works. The novel is sharp, satirical and all around well written and developed. The film adaptation is decidedly not, which is strange because the project originally started life as a spec script for a film. It wasn’t until later, after being rejected by nearly every studio in town, that Doyle turned the premise into a book. As luck would have it, and as undeniable proof that Hollywood is a very strange place, eventually, Doyle adapted his creation back into a film, after his novel turned out to be a smashing success, and was bought up by 20th Century Fox. So, how does a film, based on a thoroughly witty book, with a script written by the author of the source material, end up being so heartless and cold? I don’t know… but I can tell you that’s just what “I Love You, Beth Cooper” is. It’s soulless. It’s not that funny. And it’s mostly meandering and thoughtless. Sure, it doesn’t insult my cinematic tastes, as it’s rarely offensive and not entirely inept, but the film is shamelessly dry, bland and pedestrian. Perhaps it’s Chris Columbus’ fault, as he offers up by the numbers, straightforward direction. I was surprised to see his name in the credits, and shot on over to IMDB just to make sure that the Columbus that was behind “I Love You, Beth Cooper” was the same one who also directed “Home Alone” (1990) and so many other films, and not some newcomer who’s still finding his footing in the industry, and just happened to have the same name of a man who should know better. Make no mistake, I’m not saying that all of Columbus’ films outside of “I Love You, Beth Cooper” are cinematic masterpieces, or that he has one of the most unique styles in all of Hollywood, far from it actually, and I admit, the man has always been fairly plain stylistically, but he is especially so with this film; even lazily so. It seems amateurish at times and woefully lacking in purpose, which is hardly something one would expect from someone’s who’s been making films for over 20 years. Then again, perhaps it’s Paul Rust, who, at nearly 30, seems to be completely the wrong choice for the lead role, which calls for a just graduated 17 year old. I’m all for a little suspension of disbelief, but this is pushing it. The guy looks every bit of his almost-30 years, and it became a distraction for me frankly, especially when he’s surrounded by Panettiere, who’s 20, and the rest of the cast, who are in their early to mid 20s, and, in some cases, look much younger. Rust just seems out of place in this film. Worst of all though, I think, is not the bland direction, the fact that the writing is not nearly as clever as the source material, or even solely a fault in the casting. No, the most disappointing aspect of the film is the fact that the book, which contained what could be considered “R Rated” subject matter, was transformed into a PG-13 certified movie. This decision was no doubt at the insistence of 20th Century Fox executives, so that they could reap the maximum profit by being able to market “I Love You, Beth Cooper” to the under 17 crowd, but, as a result, the film feels restricted by it’s rating. Sure, there is one use of the f-word, references to drugs, sex and alcohol, but there’s no denying that the film feels neutered. The book had “Hard R” scenes in it and those are cut; and, as the book was a critique of mostly 80's teen films, many of which were “R” or what I’ll refer to as “80s PG-13” (which was more daring than the PG-13 rating is today), it feels wrong. Rent it if you must, as the film isn’t entirely worthless… yes, I admit to laughing a few times… but, keep this in mind, “I Love You Beth Cooper” is far, oh so very far, from good. It’s definitely mediocre, trite and unneeded, and that’s a shame really, because the source material could have made a more than decent flick.
Video
“I Love You, Beth Cooper” comes to Blu-ray with an AVC/MPEG-4 encoded 1080p 24/fps transfer, framed within the original 1.85:1 widescreen window. The film has an advertised average bitrate of 33 Mbps. Video quality is the one area of this release that is well above average in all aspects. Bright, colorful and well light for about half the film, the result is a nearly grain free, reasonably sharp picture. Without any noticeable unwanted tinkering (no signs of DNR or edge enhancement), the film looks respectable and admittedly quite good. Although not the sharpest transfer in recent memory, the moments of softness seem intentional, which doesn’t surprise me (nor should it surprise anyone), as Chris Columbus tends to shoot his films with a bit of a diffused look anyway. The dual layered encode is strong, with no noticeable noise bursts, unwanted artifacts, or other problems. The picture has plenty of pop, with amble and natural contrast, leaving the film with a reasonable level of dimensionality. Black levels are solid, which is ever important for the extended portions of the film that take place at night. Good looking, but not the best of what high-def Blu-ray has to offer, “I Love You, Beth Cooper” is, visually, a pretty nice presentation.
Audio
The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) soundtrack is, much like the film itself, a bit lifeless and undiscerning. Although far from awful, with straightforward, clean dialogue, decent stereo separation across the front speakers and an undeniable clarity, no doubt due to the lossless delivery, the mix is still underwhelming. Rear activity is thin. The balance between music and other elements in the soundtrack is uneven. For example, when Beth and her girls arrive at Denis’ house, the accompanied music is a volume few notches above everything else in the mix and I needed to adjust the volume appropriately, as the music was considerably louder; almost harshly so. Moments of unbalanced levels appear sporadically throughout the film, and it’s problematic. Otherwise, there isn’t a whole lot else going on in the film. Bass is light, as mentioned, surround activity is sparse and the film is mostly a dialog heavy, low-key affair. Average is the best way to describe this mix. Very, very average. Fox offers optional Dolby Digital 5.1 dubs in Spanish, French and Portuguese, with subtitles available in English for the hearing impaired, Spanish, Portuguese and Cantonese.
Extras
Fox compiles an serviceable, but unextraordinary amount of supplements for this Blu-ray edition of “I Love You, Beth Cooper,” including an alternate ending, deleted scenes, multiple featurettes, a impromptu music video, 2 episodes from Fox Movie Channels “In Character…” program and a bonus trailer gallery. Befitting a new release, most of the video based material is offered in high definition (details below). Kicking things off is an alternate ending. This alternate ending has one more encounter between Kevin (Shawn Roberts), his goons and Denis. Different from the final cut’s ending, but not exactly better or worse. Just… different, and a bit meaner spirited. 6 minutes 59 seconds. Presented in 1.78:1 1080p 24/fps with 2.0 Dolby Digital sound. Next is a series of 4 deleted scenes, presented in 1.78:1 1080p 24/fps with 2.0 Dolby Digital sound. Scenes include: - “The Graduate” sees a reaction from Denis’ parents (his dad is played by Alan Ruck – woo-hoo!) concerning his Valedictorian speech, as well as odd glances from other parents and fellow students and a stern reprimand from the school principal. 2 minutes 13 seconds. - “College Worthy Handyman” has Denis fixing various things in the front of his house in preparation of Beth’s arrival, while his best friend, Rich, ponders their life at college. 2 minutes 25 seconds. - This cut, titled “Beth Digs For Buried Treasure” is a throwaway moment with Beth and Denis in a convenient store. Most of it is present in the final cut. Beth piles snack food after snack food onto Denis’ outstretched arms. Unable to reach his back pocket when Beth asks how much money he has, she digs through his back pocket for his wallet. 2 minutes. - Lastly is “Beth Remembers A Cooverman Moment” and it’s a shorty, at 58 seconds. When asked if she has any memories of Denis, we get a quick flash of Denis at the blackboard explaining a complex math problem, only to be laughed at because his fly was open. “I Love You, Larry Doyle” is a featurette that centers around novelist and screenwriter Larry Doyle and his book. Doyle talks about how his book was as much of a teen comedy as it was as critique on the teen comedy genre; funny (but really, quite sad) as the film misses that point entirely. 5 minutes 54 seconds. Presented in 1080p 24/fps. “We Are All Different, But That’s a Good Thing” featurette is, I would say, the closest thing to a ‘making of’ in this set as you’re going to get. It intermixes interviews, on set footage and kind of covers all the bases, from characters to working with Chris Columbus, to the script. Unfortunately, it’s short, at 8 minutes 54 seconds, and has a disappointing number of film clips for the length. This is another 108p 24/fps featurette. Holly crap is this cringe inducing. “Peanut Butter Toast” is an original music video/song by actor Paul Rust. The lyrics are as complex as “Peanut Butter Toast / Peanut Butter Toast / Gonna Make Some Peanut Butter Toast”. 2 minute 48 seconds of pure agony. This is an odd one; it’s pillar-boxed (and the pillar-boxes are white) standard definition, inside an anamorphic 16x9 frame. Next up are two episodes from the “Fox Movie Channel Presents: In Character with…” program. They are: - The first, “In Character… with Paul Rust” is a short interview with Rust about his character, Denis Cooverman. The actor discusses his initial reaction to the script and the character, how he was afraid to be as annoying as the character was in the book and original screenplay, and the middle ground he eventually reached after talking it over with director Chris Columbus. Runs 3 minutes 2 seconds. Presented in 4x3 standard definition. - “In Character… with Hayden Panettiere” is the next interview from the aforementioned program, and as one can deduce, it’s basically the same as the above, only with Panettiere discussing her character, Beth. Runs 3 minutes 2 seconds. Presented in 4x3 standard definition. A sub menu full of bonus trailers completely and totally unrelated to “I Love You, Beth Cooper” are also included, in full 1080p 24/fps video with 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. Strangely, no trailer for the film itself is included anywhere on this disc: - “My Life in Ruins” on DVD and Blu-ray. 1 minute 57 seconds. - “Adam” Coming Soon To DVD and Blu-ray. 2 minutes 24 seconds. - “Fame” (2009) Coming Soon to DVD and Blu-ray. 2 minutes 10 seconds. - “The Marine 2” on DVD and Blu-ray. 43 seconds. A series of bonus trailers also precede the menu. The “Top Men” button is available, allowing one to skip over these. All trailers are presented in 1080p 24/fps with 448 kbps 5.1 Dolby Digital. They are: - “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.” 50 seconds. - “Post Grad.” 2 minutes 10 seconds. - “(500) Days of Summer.” 2 minutes 20 seconds. [This looks great]. - “All About Steve.” 2 minutes 30 seconds. [This is supposed to be awful – and it looks it].
Packaging
“I Love You, Beth Cooper” comes packaged inside a standard blu-ray keep case, of the Elite Eco-Box variety. The dual layer BD-50 is locked to region A.
Overall
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