I Love You, Beth Cooper gets movie to go with soundtrack

Larry Doyle, who has written for The Simpsons and Beavis and Butthead, is having his first novel, I Love You, Beth Cooper, made into a movie.

Tentatively scheduled for a summer release, the story starts with high-school valedictorian Dennis Cooverman announcing, "I love you, Beth Cooper," at the end of his graduation-day speech.

If you've ever been to a chain bookstore, you've probably seen this title staring at you from a table or prominently displayed, full cover facing, from the stacks. Beth Cooper even has its own soundtrack on iTunes, and now it's going to be made into a film. Why not, right?

The movie will likely have a revamped soundtrack, though, as many of the tunes on the book's "soundtrack" were nominated by fans as part of a contest and are already attached to other teen/graduation movies. The prominent song playing over the Beth Cooper website is Simple Minds' "Don't You Forget About Me," which, coupled with Judd Nelson's fist pump, brings to mind '80s teen movie The Breakfast Club with Pavlovian consistency. There's also "Mad World" (Donnie Darko), Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" and many other teen-movie anthems. There's even some Fall Out Bo y on there.

Likewise, the cast seems to have come from the same recycled teen movie idea. Alan Ruck, who despite a long resume will always be remembered as Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, joins the cast. Samm Levine (Freaks and Geeks) is also on board. Hayden Panettiere will play Beth Cooper and has already played a high school cheerleader on Heroes.

Beth Cooper was Doyle's debut novel, published in 2007, and won the 2008 Thurber Prize for American Humor. In addition to his television writing credits, Doyle is also a contributor to The New Yorker.