Upon graduation from Buffalo Grove High School, valedictorian Denis Cooverman states to the entire gymnasium that he's had a crush on cheerleader Beth Cooper for six years. During the speech, he singles out several members of the class including the class bully and a pretty but shallow party girl, and tells his movie-quoting best friend Rich to admit that he's gay. Denis' speech upsets everyone except Beth, who thinks it was "sweet", giving Denis the courage to invite her to a party at his house that night. After the speech, it is revealed that Beth in fact has a boyfriend, an off duty army soldier named Kevin who threatens Denis.
After his declaration, Denis' mother and father leave him and Rich alone at the house for their party, which no one attends, as they are social outcasts. Beth shows up in her tiny blue car with her friends Cammy and Treece (the group of three is known as "The Trinity") at Denis' house that evening. Things are awkward and become worse when Kevin shows up with his army buddies, and Denis and Rich are assaulted and Denis' house (the kitchen) is trashed. Beth and the Trinity help Denis and Rich get away.
Beth is meant to be a dream girl, but has glaring imperfections that shatter Denis' fantasy. Throughout the novel the real Beth shows that she is nowhere near the perfect girl that Denis has imagined.
They then travel out to Old Tobacco Road where Denis and Beth drink and converse about their roles in high school and why exactly Denis fell for Beth; he admits it was because she was pretty and he always sat behind her. Cammy, Treece, and Rich try to tip over a cow but fail miserably. The girls then proceed to tell a scary story to get the boys entranced then floor it. They eventually crash into Denis' parents car where his parents were having sex.
The group then heads to Valli Wooly's (the shallow rich party girl) party. Denis, feeling uninvited does not accompany the Trinity into the party but decides to enter in anyway later. After some mishaps involving getting hit on by a fat girl, meeting the ugly girl he once made out with, he is again confronted by Kevin. Kevin and his gang then proceed to beat Denis up in front of the entire party in the most humiliating fashion, pounding him to the beat of the song playing. Beth then crashes Kevin's Humvee into the house itself and the group escapes.
The group heads back to the high school where Beth, Cammy, and Treece show off their cheer leading act. After the act, the girls head to the showers and Rich and Denis follow. Rich immediately proceeds to enter in the showers with the girls but as Denis is taking off his pants, he sees Beth get out the shower. Rich and Denis fight off Kevin for a bit by using their wet towels to thrash them with; this they learned to do after a brutal beating Rich had in freshman year. The group escapes in Beth's original car which Kevin used to drive down to the high school from the party. After escaping, Beth reveals to Denis that she only came to his party because it would be "funny", leaving Denis disappointed. Denis gets a nose bleed and Treece gives him tampons to stick up his nostrils to stop the bleeding. Next, Beth tells Denis his shirt smells and forces him to take it off. Beth takes his shirt and holds it out the window to "air it off"; the shirt then flies out the window. They stop the car and Denis, in his underwear, goes to find his shirt, which he finds in a puddle of mud being eaten by a pair of raccoons. Denis gives up his attempt at retrieval and returns to the car in only his "lucky" (meaning holey) underwear. Beth lends him a poncho.
The gang arrives at Treece's father's cabin where they all share a drink. Beth goes out with Denis for a smoke and to watch the moon. They talk about their futures and the fact that Beth is resigned to the fact that her life after this is not going to get much better but that Denis has so many opportunities available to him. Back at the cabin Cammy and Treece imply that Rich is gay. He continues to deny he is. So they decide to test him. Cammy grabs a condom and they have sex, where it's revealed that he isn't gay but the two girls might be as the sex is mostly Cammy and Treece having sex with Rich just being a bystander. They all share what they plan to do once the summer's over realizing they are going to be in the same dorm with similar majors.
Beth and Denis talk about their plans after summer, and they make out. Beth breaks off before they go too far and Kevin and his gang show up again. After beating up Denis a bit more they are confronted by Rich who has a rifle belonging to Treece's father. However, before they can be driven off the rifle falls apart revealing that it was not functioning. Kevin then forces Denis to row a boat out to the middle of the lake. Denis hits Kevin with an oar knocking him out of the boat and unconscious. Denis, fearing for his college admittance, jumps over and rescues Kevin revealing that he is a champion swimmer. He pulls Kevin to shore and prepares to administer CPR. Kevin however, recovers and subdues him yet again. Before anything more happens, the police arrive. Fighting stereotypes of dumb teenagers Rich, Treece and Cammy had called the police. The police bring the whole group in. Kevin's father forgoes charging Beth with stealing his car if they don't charge Kevin with attempting to kill Denis. They are taken home. Beth is dropped off at an empty house. Beth and Denis share a moment where Denis promises to marry Beth if she isn't fat at their 10-year reunion. On the way home, Rich reveals that he thinks he might be gay. When they get home Denis's parents are there and inform him that he will have to be punished. After his mom goes in, Denis tells his dad it was worth it. His father tells him not to mention that to his mother.
In the conclusion, Denis grew seven inches in the summer and gained 40 pounds. Rich tried being gay and didn't much like being homosexual either and is waiting for the next thing. Treece and Cammy decided they were just good friends and they shouldn't drink so much around each other. Beth and Denis see each other a week before he intends to go off to school.
Film version
A film version of I Love You, Beth Cooper, starring Hayden Panettiere as Beth and Paul Rust as Denis, opened in the summer of 2009 to scathing reviews [1] and quickly flopped.[2] The film was largely faithful to the novel, but made a significant change by making Beth more outwardly responsive at the end to Denis' feelings for her.
Related Research Articles
Elizabeth "Lizzie" Spaulding Lewis is a fictional character from the CBS soap opera Guiding Light. The role was last portrayed by actress Emme Rylan from February 7, 2006 to September 18, 2009.
Valley Girl is a 1983 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Martha Coolidge and written and produced by Wayne Crawford and Andrew Lane. Loosely based on the tragedy Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the film centers on the romance between a valley girl and a city punk. Michelle Meyrink, Elizabeth Daily, Cameron Dye and Michael Bowen appear in supporting roles.
Little Women is a 1978 American television miniseries directed by David Lowell Rich and written by Suzanne Clauser based on the 1868–69 two-volume novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott. The cast includes Susan Dey, Meredith Baxter Birney, Ann Dusenberry, Eve Plumb, Dorothy McGuire, William Schallert, Greer Garson, Robert Young, Richard Gilliland, William Shatner and John de Lancie.
Rhys Ashworth is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Andrew Moss. He made his first on-screen appearance in September 2005. Rhys was killed off in the Enjoy The Ride storyline in an episode airing on 15 November 2012 and the character departed on 16 November 2012. Rhys made a return on 27 June 2014 as part of his ex-girlfriend Cindy Cunningham's storyline about her bipolar disorder.
Shane Ramsay is a fictional character from the Australian television soap opera Neighbours, played by Peter O'Brien. He made his first appearance during the show's first episode, broadcast on 18 March 1985. Shane is the son of Max Ramsay and Maria Ramsay. His storylines included training to be an Olympic swimmer and being involved in two car crashes, with the second killing Jean Richards, leaving Shane facing manslaughter charges. Writers also created a relationship story with Daphne Lawrence. O'Brien decided to leave Neighbours in 1986 and Shane departed during the episode broadcast on 3 March 1987. O'Brien reprised the role in July 2022 for the show's final episodes.
Sucks Less with Kevin Smith is a show done in partnership with MTVu, an MTV channel aimed at college students. The show aired weekly on MTVu, on Amp'd Mobile phones, and on MTVu.com. It is "the show for people who have way better things to do with their weekend than get laid." Every week, the show features three UCLA students who are enrolled in a class about cinematography in which Kevin Smith is the teacher. Each episode is about seven and a half minutes in length and the basic premise of each show is to inform college students of things that can help their weekends suck less.
Gilly Roach is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Anthony Quinlan. The character first appeared on-screen during the episode broadcast on 4 October 2005. Gilly was created in 2005 by executive producer David Hanson. Gilly has often been portrayed as a push-over and has a double act partnership with fellow character Rhys Ashworth. His main character traits have been his "nice attitude", with Quinlan branding Gilly in his first five years as a "push-over". He has been labelled a loser and unlucky in love after failed relationships with Jessica Harris, Beth Clement, Cheryl Brady and Jem Costello. In 2009, executive producer Lucy Alan made changes to the character and reached a mutual agreement with Quinlan to shave off his hair, which has characterised Gilly during his early years.
Christopher "Chris" Miles is a fictional character in the British teen drama Skins, portrayed by Joe Dempsie.
Hope Logan is a fictional character from The Bold and the Beautiful, an American soap opera on the CBS network. The character was portrayed by several child actors since Hope's introduction in 2002, most notably Rachel and Amanda Pace. In 2010, the role was rapidly aged and recast with actress Kim Matula, who made her first appearance in January 2010. Matula departed the serial as a series regular in December 2014, but she made guest appearances in 2015 and 2016. As of 2018, the role is portrayed by Annika Noelle.
I Love You, Beth Cooper is a 2009 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Chris Columbus and starring Hayden Panettiere and Paul Rust. It is based on the novel of the same name by Larry Doyle, with Doyle also writing the film's screenplay.
Picture This is a 2008 romantic comedy film directed by Stephen Herek. Starring Ashley Tisdale and Kevin Pollak, the film was released on July 13, 2008, on television by ABC Family, branded as an ABC Family Original Movie, and on July 22, 2008, on DVD. The film is produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and drew 5.3 million viewers.
Seven Deadly Sins is a series of young kids' novels written by Robin Wasserman. The plot follows a group of bankrupt teens living in the town of Grace, California. The series was published starting in 2005 through Simon Pulse and consists of seven books, each one named after one of the seven deadly sins. The books by release date are Lust, Envy, Pride (, Wrath, Sloth, Gluttony, and Greed.
The Sitter is a 2011 American black comedy film directed by David Gordon Green and written by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka. The film follows a slacker college student who, after being suspended, is forced by his mother to fill in for a babysitter that called in sick. During this time, he takes his charges along for his extensive criminal escapades.
Unforgivable is a 1996 American made-for-television drama film directed by Graeme Campbell and starring John Ritter, Harley Jane Kozak, Gina Philips, Susan Gibney and James McDaniel. The film premiered on April 30, 1996 on CBS.
Aloysius "Alo" Creevey is a fictional character from the third generation of the British teen drama Skins. He is portrayed by Will Merrick. He appears in the fifth and sixth series of the show.
Juliette Jolene Barnes-Barkley is a fictional character and one of the two leads in the ABC/CMT musical drama series Nashville. Juliette is portrayed by actress Hayden Panettiere since the pilot episode, which aired on October 10, 2012. Juliette was a teenage country sensation and is now making more mature music. She tries to take the throne, as Queen of Country music, from rival Rayna Jaymes. Panettiere has received critical acclaim for her performance as Juliette including nominations for two Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Television Series Drama in 2013 and 2014, a Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama in 2012 and a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
