Weekend Reviews: A Book, a Movie and a TiVo Alert

I Love You Beth Cooper- Larry Doyle
I continue to be fascinated by stories of coming of age even as I get older (insert pedophile joke here). Despite my advancing years nothing captures my attention more then the struggles of people coming of age whether it be in high school, college, or post college. Perhaps it’s the fact that I believe I’m still growing up and that I constantly see similarities between my life and world now and that which I faced at 16, 20, or 25. My point is that these types of fictional tales often grab my attention whether it be in film (Clerks), TV (Undeclared) or most recently literature.
“I Love You Beth Cooper” is an engaging tale of the awkwardness, friendship, pain and unrequited love that define high school (or at least it did for me). It’s set in modern times but shockingly it’s written by a 49 year old ex-Simpsons’ writer named Larry Doyle. In this book Doyle captures all sides of adolescence in a manner that is both funny and often times a little too close to home for any of us that still remember those days. The action in the book at times seems implausible until you remember some of the stories that you have or have heard from friends over the years. The pacing is quick and just when you figure it will go left it goes right. The humor is, well, funny and it certainly has a Simpsons sensibility. It’s the kind of book that screams movie yet I can’t imagine anyone other then maybe John Hughes doing it justice. Still I’m sure it’s already been optioned and fast tracked so do yourself a favor and read the book first.

Transformers
I love director Michael Bay for what he can be (The Rock, Bad Boys) and I often loathe him for what he is (Armageddon, Pearl Harbor). Transformers is the quintessential Michael Bay film. It’s a good movie and certainly entertaining but it leaves you wanting more. Bay is the best pure action director working today (sorry John Woo but I’m sick of doves and rainbows) and Transformers is visually breathtaking. I’m not usually one to compliment CGI work but the robots look amazingly real and the fight scenes are a whirling dervish of captivating action especially the final fight between Optimus Prime and Megatron.(Only complaint on the robots was a lack of color on the majority of them that sometimes made it hard to tell who was who.) Problem is Bay as always gets overwhelmed by story and plot. He introduces us to more characters then you can shake a stick at when really Shia LaBeouf (who is definitely a star in the making) is really the only human you need. Bay also gives our fighting boys a good salute by making the US military about the greatest thing in the whole world whether it be fighting robots or helping small Arab children. Gack! Then there is the self awareness he infuses the film with. Sure a couple of “more then meets the eye” jokes are ok but throw in an Armageddon joke and an obtuse unfunny reference to our Commander in Chief (he’s so dumb he likes snack cakes…hilarious) and your eyes will roll back into your head. Still the movie is good summer popcorn fare and if you loved the Transformers as a kid you’ll geek out for all the little things like the sound effects, the original Bumblebee homage, and the soothing original voice of Optimus Prime.

TiVo Alert!!
All you media whores out there remember tonight is the premiere of the second season of the World Series of Pop Culture (VH1, 8pm CST). As loyal readers know I attempted to make this year’s wild card team and fell tremendously short. Of course that won’t stop me from yelling at the idiots on TV when they can’t think of more then 1 Happy Days spin off. Looks like the defending champs El Chupacabra are back along with the soothing voice of the host that should never be shown. There was a sneak peak last night and I got around 38 of the first 40 questions right so guess who’s going to be playing the “what if: game this summer. Tune in and surprise yourself at how much you know and then angrily resent the contestants who are there instead of you.