The book I Love You, Beth Cooper is a pretty good example of why I think the ability to write is more important than the ability to come up with a cracking story. The novel is, when you break it down, essentially a rote wacky one-night-in-the-life high school story about a nerd who is in love with the most popular girl at school. But it’s Larry Doyle’s writing – funny, insightful, filled with a delight in the use of language – that elevates the book into something special.
That element of Doyle’s voice is what I expect to be lost first in the movie adaptation. And then there’s the fact that the movie adaptation is directed by Chris Columbus. But – bright side! – the screenplay is by Doyle himself. So maybe he’s smuggling something smart and funny into what looks, from the new trailer, to be fairly rote.
But maybe it’s just the trailer! God knows this wouldn’t be the first trailer to hide what makes the movie special under a bushel of pap. Click here to see the trailer. Click here to buy the book, which you should definitely read and enjoy before the movie comes out.