I Love You, Beth Cooper

Chris Columbus made his directorial debut 22 years ago with Adventures in Babysitting, a funny high school comedy that benefited from the extremely hot Elisabeth Shue and the underrated comedic timing of Keith Coogan. (He ruled! Where is that guy?) With this movie, Columbus tries to revisit his debut-film glory days … and fails. Miserably. Instead, Columbus directs like a dweeb uncle crashing his nephew’s high school party, cracking shitty jokes he thinks are funny, while the room stares at him all glassy-eyed and quiet. With this plodding effort, he proves himself woefully out of touch. The film starts promisingly, with valedictorian Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) bringing his graduation ceremony to a halt with a barn-burning speech, during which he declares his love for the class hottie, Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere). The entertainment level plunges downward soon thereafter.