I really liked it but there ere some bad parts. There is a lot of drugs and alcahol and drugs in the movie.
I Love You, Beth Cooper
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Is it age appropriate?
About our ratings -
Is it any good?
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Common Sense says
Forgettable teen comedy has lots of sex and drinking.
Themes in this movie include: dating/crushes, friendship, peer pressure
Why We Rated This 
for Ages 14–16
What to watch out for
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Role models:
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Violence:
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Sex:
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Language:
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Consumerism:
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Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
What Parents Need to Know
This review of I Love You, Beth Cooper was written by Sandie Angulo Chen
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
Talk to your kids about the media in their life. We have more tools and tips that can help
- 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?
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More on I Love You, Beth Cooper
What’s the Story?
Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) is your typical geeky high school valedictorian -- except he decides to announce his unrequited love for titular head cheerleader Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere) during his graduation speech. Thinking it would be funny, Beth and her mean-girl BFFs pick up Denis and his pop-culture-obsessed best friend Rich (Jack Carpenter) for a wild and crazy graduation night, during which Denis realizes the actual Beth Cooper might not live up to his idealized expectations.
Is It Any Good?
Director Chris Columbus is no stranger to teen-friendly fodder. Long before he was the original Harry Potter auteur, he began his directing career with 1987's Adventures in Babysitting, a tween/teen classic. It's a shame that two decades later, he seems to have completely lost the mojo to portray teens as anything but ridiculous stereotypes. Denis is not a high-school Everyman like the freshmen in Dazed and Confused, the cool-but-eccentric seniors of Superbad, or even the brilliantly developed, funny-as-anything outcasts of John Hughes lore. He's a homely, formulaic nerd, and Beth, it seems, is headed to prison for DUI and vehicular manslaughter instead of community college.
While a few scenes are worthy of a couple of laughs, the only memorable aspect of I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER is the wink-wink fact that Denis' father is none other than Alan Ruck, who once played Ferris Bueller's best friend. Watching Cameron -- he of the Ferrari-driving father -- will remind parents in the audience of their own screen touchstones, which were infinitely better.
Movie Details
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox, Director: Chris Columbus
Run time: 102 minutes
Theatrical release: 7/10/2009, DVD release: 11/3/2009
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual content, language, some teen drinking and drug references, and brief violence
Run time: 102 minutes
Theatrical release: 7/10/2009, DVD release: 11/3/2009
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual content, language, some teen drinking and drug references, and brief violence
Our Members Say
See 23 member reviews
Most Recent Reviews
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I rate this title iffy for age 11 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Excessive violence
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Inappropriate language
- Excessive consumerism
- Drinking, smoking, or drug use
- Negative role models
- My highlights are:
- Good role models
I love u
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I rate this title iffy for age 14 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Inappropriate language
- Drinking, smoking, or drug use
- My highlights are:
Just wasn't that funny....watched with my 15 year old and his comment was school is not like that at all. A couple of laughs but I thought it was boring. Glad I didn't pay for it in the movies.
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I rate this title iffy for age 14 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Excessive violence
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Inappropriate language
- Drinking, smoking, or drug use
- Negative role models
Could've Been Better
First off, there is no unrated version, the ending is in the deleated scenes. Second id give this movie a 3 1/2. The movie is definatly not as innaproprite as the book. Some things are still there though. The language contained 1 f-word,one or two uses of the d-word, a few b-words, and a few s words. But other then that there was nothing major. The sex was pretty bad (not as bad as the book, but im not gonna list everything). There was also some violence. *Spoilers* After seeing the movie i was very dissapointed to see they cut out the ending, its on the dvd. But the new ending makes no sense
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I rate this title on for age 14 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Inappropriate language
- Negative role models
Good comedy for teens!
I love this movie! There was somethings that didnt need to be in there like this guy had a threesome but they didnt show it.. there was some violence but not too much.. This movie is really funny!
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I rate this title iffy for age 14 and give it
- My concerns are:
- Inappropriate sexual content
- Inappropriate language
- My highlights are:
- Good role models
BBFC's Labeling Content Differs From MPAA
The BBFC states, "There is one use of strong language and a few references to drugs, but no sight of actual use." They classified this film a 15 for strong sex references (some moderate sex refences included). Their labeling including this film is kind of strange. The BBFC (I believed) would label the bad language for this one for frequent moderate and once strong. I like their content labeling better than our MPAA.
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Ratings at a Glance
| 78% | of parents say the sexual behavior isn't age appropriate |
| 67% | of parents say it has language their kids can't use |
| 56% | of parents don't think the messages are positive |
| 44% | of parents say it gives kids positive messages |
| 33% | of parents say there's too much drinking, drugs, or smoking |
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