Graduation stunt doesn't help 'Beth Cooper'

Today's front page of the Wall Street Journal talks about Hamilton High senior Kenya Mejia receiving $1,800 to plug the movie "I Love You, Beth Cooper" in her valedictorian address at last month's graduation. "I really don't know what I was thinking," Mejia told the paper from MIT, where she is taking summer classes.

Fox hired another firm to videotape the episode in a style that emulated a home movie. The company then posted it on YouTube -- a tactic employed by a growing number of marketers seeking to create seemingly amateur videos that appear more authentic than conventional ads.

Unfortunately for the studio, lightning didn't strike. "I Love You, Beth Cooper" has been a bomb in an otherwise buoyant summer movie season. The movie, which cost an estimated $19 million to make, took in $13.4 million domestically its first three weeks in release, according to Hollywood.com. Even Ms. Mejia hasn't seen it.

Nor has the 67-second YouTube clip become the blockbuster Fox hoped for. More than a month after it was posted, the clip had garnered fewer than 2,000 views.

Hamilton and LAUSD officials say they didn't know about the plug, or the taping of the graduation by an outside flackery. Kinda sad, but OK here's the clip.