Who would have thought the best teen comedy of the past decade would arrive in book form?

Larry Doyle's "I Love You, Beth Cooper" (Ecco, $19.95) is far from being a classic. Its stereotypes are crude and obvious, none of its characters has any particularly redeeming qualities, and, let's be honest: Queen bee Beth Cooper would never give Denis the "opportunities" he received from her, such as an invitation that he only dreamed was possible until that moment.

But, wow, I have never laughed as consistently hard with (or at) anything as I did with this book, despite all the cliches.

The plot takes off immediately when valedictorian Denis speaks his mind for the first time during his graduation speech, professing his love for Beth and uttering certain other ugly truths, including reasons for the aggressiveness of bully Greg Saloga and questioning the sexuality of his best friend, Rich Munsch.

For some reason, Beth is flattered enough to not only forgive Denis but also to show up at his party (of two) with her cronies, Treece and Cammy. When Beth's jealous and violence-prone Army boyfriend, Kevin, shows up, the newly formed party of five goes on the run, while Beth gives Denis the night of his life.

Doyle is able to flesh out these characters beyond their initial one-dimensionality and makes them seem like real people, especially Beth, who is smarter than the average object of affection in coming-of-age comedies. The only exception to this is Rich, a borderline offensive gay stereotype who spews out lines such as "Lesley Ann Warren in Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'Cinderella,' 1965, Charles S. Dubin, director" in reference to a song lyric about the two reinventing themselves in college. Decide for yourself.

This book was made more in the form of a movie script than a novel. Hopefully, the big-screen adaptation, starring "Heroes' " Hayden Panettiere (THE perfect casting) as Beth, will do the source material justice.