Editorial
Front Page - Friday, July 24, 2009
The Critic's Corner
David Laprad
If every geek who ever harbored a secret love for the most popular kid in school went to see “I Love You, Beth Cooper,” they’d make it the most successful film in history. Enough people would see “Beth Cooper” to sink “Titanic” hundreds of times over.
I’m among those who didn’t keep his feelings to himself. I don’t remember her name, but she sat behind me in 8th grade and smiled at something I said. That was all it took to melt my tender adolescent heart. Terrified of saying, “I like you,” I wrote her a note and placed it on her chair. When she discovered it, she laughed and shared it with everyone else in class. Thank God for the resiliency of youth.
Denis Cooverman, the leading schmuck in “Beth Cooper,” also reveals his feelings, only not in something as PRESUMABLY private as a note; rather, he announces his secret love for the titular Beth during his high school graduation valedictorian address. Suffice to say Cooverman suffers more pain, both physical and emotional, in the next 24 hours than I experienced 33 years ago.
“Beth Cooper” is actually two movies. One features ridiculous, over-the-top comedy and the same hackneyed supporting characters seen in every teen flick since “Porky’s.” The other is more grounded in real life and has a heart. I put up with the former so I could enjoy the latter.
For example, early on, Cooper’s enraged boyfriend breaks into Cooverman’s home, trashes the place and throws a microwave at his head. It’s a stupid scene. But then there’s the way Cooper slowly warms up to Cooverman during the wild and crazy night that follows graduation. A lot happens during their adventure together, and by the next morning, Cooverman realizes he does love Cooper, even though she’s not the person he imagined she was.
I suppose Cooper and Cooverman seem more real, swimming in a sea of stereotypes. And there’s a lot to like about “Beth Cooper”: it’s funny, well written and insightful; it has good performances; and it doesn’t tie things up with a neat bow. If there’s ever a movie called, “I Love You, Beth Cooverman,” we’ll know how things turned out.
Above all, “Beth Cooper” is a call to bravery. Perhaps the reason certain things never happen (like the cheerleader falling for the nerd) is because people are afraid to take chances. Even the 8th grade boy in me agrees. Rating: Rent it.
A word of warning: “Beth Cooper” might be rated PG-13, but it should’ve been rated R, as it’s packed with drug references, underage drinking and teen sex.
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From 3D glasses to free product samples, movie theater employees have shoved all manner of things in my hands. So would it be too much to ask the studio behind “My Sister’s Keeper” to hand out tissues at showings of that film? Not those packets of Kleenex you can buy at convenience stores, but big boxes of two-ply Puffs with lotion.
I can’t think of any movie in recent memory that worked so hard to make audiences cry. Every frame of “My Sister’s Keeper” oozes with agony. In one scene, heavy raindrops beat against windows in the background as two characters embrace, just in case their own tears aren’t getting the point across.
To be fair, the subject matter is devastating. The film centers on the story of 11-year-old Anna, whose teenage sister, Kate, is dying of leukemia. Anna’s parents bred her specifically to use her body parts to keep her sister alive, but at a young age, she decides she’s had enough and sues her parents for the rights to her own body.
You get that much from the ads, but the movie is really about releasing those we love to die. Cameron Diaz delivers a heartbreaking performance as a mother who stubbornly refuses to let her older daughter go. Her full-time efforts are admirable, but also futile. The rest of the family, including dad and an older brother, are willing to let go, even though doing so tears them apart.
It’s not easy to watch someone you love suffer, knowing they’ll die and you’re powerless to stop it. On that level, “My Sister’s Keeper” is a well-intentioned and accurately presented movie. I especially liked the scene in which emotionally distant family members give Anna advice on how to visualize her healing as they dig into a pizza. They have no connection with Anna, so they ignore her impending death and pretend to care. It felt cruel.
Unfortunately, the rest of “My Sister’s Keeper” sticks close to the book for weepy medical dramas. From the opening scene, you’ll know everything that will follow. I can’t slam the movie, as it means well, but at the same time, I have to express my disappointment that it says nothing new. Rating: Rent it.
E-mail David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.
com.
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