BOOK REVIEW: I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle

I am a sucker for 80's teen comedies. Actually, I'm a sucker for comedies. So, a year ago, when I picked up and purchased Larry Doyle's novel on a complete whim, based on premise alone, little did I know that I was picking up something that was right in my wheelhouse: hilarious and heartwarming.

I Love You, Beth Cooper centers on Denis Cooverman, high school valedictorian, debate team captain and overachiever who, after he leaves high school is on his way to Northwestern. But, with his speech, he feels he must say something memorable. Ergo, he says the one thing that, if left unsaid, he will regret not saying for the rest of his life: "I love you, Beth Cooper" Beth is the cheerleading captain and hottest girl in school. The additional cast include Rich, Denis' maybe-gay-maybe-bi-maybe-neither, movie-quoting best friend; flighty Treece and sarcastic Cammy, the other two members of Beth's high school Trinity of Hotness; and Kevin, Beth's Army boyfriend on furlough and his two lackeys. After the aforementioned declaration of love, a series of events occurs that is at times unfortunate, at times incredible and always hilarious and relatable.

Doyle, a writer for The Simpsons, also is a lover of the 80's teen comedies. But the book doesn't quite turn out to be an outright homage to films like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Beuller's Day Off and Weird Science and more of an update that doesn't feel like one. All of the tropes of the genre exist in full form...

• Hot girl vs. nerd
• Triumvirate of hot, bitchy, kinda slutty, kinda dumb girls who are all hiding something
• Witty best friend
• Angry ex

...but it doesn't matter because Doyle's execution is so brazen and original, you don't notice. You don't realize that Denis is essentially Cameron from Ferris Bueller until long after you've been sucked into the story of a kid in love.

One of the blurbs on the back of the softcover edition says that Doyle never forgets that humor needs heart too. I can't say it any better than that. We want to see Denis win. We want to see Kevin lose. And, in the end, we might not want to see Denis with Beth, but, if nothing else, we just want all of these characters we've come to love over 200 pages to wind up happy in the end. And while we all know the various Denises, Riches and Beths in our lives, we want to be a little part of this one, if only for a second, so we can help everyone through their last night of high school and first day of their unsure futures.

Doyle leaves the ending somewhat open (there are no spoilers there, I swear), something which might get alleviated when his adaptation of I Love You, Beth Cooper hits screens next month with Hayden Panettiere playing Beth and Paul Rust playing Denis. I hope Chris Columbus, who is still catching undue crap for a valiant, completely watchable adaptation of Rent, leaves it to us though, because, in the end, Doyle has created a perfect mix of old and new comedy.

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