Parents' Guide to

I Love You, Beth Cooper

By Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Forgettable teen comedy has lots of sex and drinking.

Movie PG-13 2009 102 minutes
I Love You, Beth Cooper Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 15+

Based on 11 parent reviews

age 15+

PG-13? Yikes!

This movie tries really hard to be funny, but it just isn't. It's weird, unrealistic and a bad example for younger teens - it's almost R rated. I wouldn't say it's terrible per say, it's definitely better than a lot of teen comedies today offering way worse inappropriate content that this one lacks - but the messages throughout are not very good. The girls act very ditzy, lead character Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere) dates a "I'm to too cool for you" guy who's into hard drugs. Teens drink under age and go to pointless parties - the story doesn't even make sense. Some violence includes fights of all kinds with injuries shown. Lots of sexual content such as major flirting, girls showering in front of guys, a threesome, lots of conversations about virginity and sexuality, teen has an erection, sexual content by parents...etc. Language is bad with an "f" word thrown in there. Lots of drinking by underage teens, some smoking, references to cocaine. Think twice about letting any child under 16 see this!

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
age 12+

Older kids (12 up) should be fine

Like the subtitle says, it's pretty forgettable, but cringe-worthy at times. The sexual references are inappropriate for kids under 12, especially the vibrating cell phone down the skirt scene. Watched it with my 11 year old brother and there were parts I wish I could have skipped but I was praying it went right over his head. Beth isn't the greatest role model; she drives like a maniac, but there are good positive messages in the movie. Leave it for the older kids.

This title has:

Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
Great messages

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (11):
Kids say (25):

While a few scenes are worthy of a couple of laughs, the only memorable aspect of the movie is the wink-wink fact that Denis' father is 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.

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.

Movie Details

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