John Tucker Must Die

Director: Betty Thomas
Screenwriter: Jeff Lowell
Starring: Jesse Metcalfe, Arielle Kebbel, Sophia Bush, Brittany Snow, Penn Badgley
Running time: 89 mins
Certificate: 12A

When three girls from different cliques learn that they are all dating high school stud John Tucker (Metcalfe), onlooker Kate (Snow) advises them not to get mad, but to get even. To this end, budding reporter Carrie (Kebbel), head cheerleader (Ashanti) and vegan friend of the earth Beth (Bush) make various attempts to damage Tucker's reputation, but to little success. Deciding that it would be more fitting to attack him emotionally, the girls take a heart for a heart brand of revenge and set him up with Kate so that she can give him the push when he least expects it. But can Kate stop herself from falling for the jock?

Well, no, which brings about one of the movie's failings. To begin with, Tucker is shown in an awful light - self-satisfied and arrogant he's given no redeeming features at all. This is all well and good, since we can then find some justice, and a little amusement, in the girls' endeavours. However, when Kate and John's interaction starts crossing boundaries into a romantic comedy, it's not clear where our support is supposed to lie, and this confusion does no favours for either the revenge or romance threads.

This may not have been such a problem if there were a more convincing character development in Tucker, but unfortunately Metcalfe never really pulls it off, fluctuating between looks of confusion and smugness throughout with not a great deal else in between. Brittany Snow proves a charming female lead and is certainly the easiest to relate to, whilst the trio of wronged women are portrayed well enough, though it's really a case of high school stereotypes by numbers.

John Tucker Must Die undeniably has some funny parts. The dialogue is variable, with a modest handful of good one-liners which seem all the funnier thanks to the more embarrassing ones that surround them. The situations and means of revenge (spiking Tucker's drink with oestrogen to make him throw an emotional tantrum during a basketball match) are silly but ultimately entertaining at times, although the twists too often seem contrived. The points at which the plans change can come across as the filmmakers realising that the route they were going down wasn't actually funny after all, so they pick a new one.

Derivative and uninspired, John Tucker Must Die doesn't quite live up to the promising idea behind it, but at a manageable 89 minutes which pass smoothly enough, there have been worse disposable date movies.