Review of John Tucker Must Die (2006) by Sara C — 29 May 2010

Ok, so this film will never be classed amongst the greats like LOTR, however it was obviously never supposed to be.

Granted, I don't understand why this film would have the appeal for many males, as the plot is all about the ridicule and downfall of one, John Tucker (Jesse Metcalfe).

We are presented with our four lead girls, all from different cliques in the school, with the exception of Kate who until the plan surfaces is and always has been a loner. They are joined together when they realise that the one thing they have in common is that they all hate John Tucker and want to humiliate him.

It is this point where the plotting and trickery starts to take place which forms the main entertainment of the film. We see the girls do a variety of funny things to John from slipping him doses of oestrogen to bring out his feminine side, to tricking him into being the face of an STI. What I like about this film is that it has a few different levels. The tricks and pranks on John are not hurried and do not feel disappointing. We can see them develop gradually. After the first bout of tricks fail, the plot begins to develop more as the new plan is to get their own back by breaking his heart instead. In doing this the girl, Kate "who no one noticed" now becomes the most popular girl in school.

(SPOILER).

Another level is revealed by the revelations at the end, where we see John finally wanting to conform to a serious relationship and the girls plan backfiring on them allowing all the characters to learn and grow.

Predictable? Yes. I would agree that this film is predictable. But since when does predictability make for a bad film? We simply cannot shun a film for having predictable moments because in doing that we would be disregarding the majority of the film library. How John Tucker avoids the just being a predictable film is by creating the depth that is brought out through Kate's mum (Jenny McCarthy) and John's brother. Although maybe perceived as your typical 'teen movie' the concept is actually so much different. I think it does retain a good sense of originality and more importantly is entertaining to watch.

And if that isn't enough?

Jesse Metcalfe as our lead man! Enough said!