---JOHN TUCKER: Not deep? I am deep! I'm dating the poetry club!-----
It has been a couple of years since I saw a teen movie that REALLY made me laugh. I think the last one was quite possibly "Mean Girls". Luckily "John Tucker Must Die" then came along and broke the curse that had apparently been bestowed on me...
The title makes this film sound more violent than it is. No one actually wants John Tucker to DIE - at least i don't THINK they do. All they want is to teach him a lesson. Why? Because he's a gorgeous and charming and thinks he can get away with being a triple timer!
-----HEATHER: John and I belong together. He's the varsity captain,---- ---------------------- and after all, I AM the head cheerleader. ------------------ ------------BETH: Sorry WHAT kind of cheerleader?-----------------------------
The three girls in question could not be more different. There's Heather (Ashanti) the head cheerleader, slutty vegan activist Beth (Sophia Bush) and go-getting reporter Carrie (Arielle Kebbel). All are furious when they realise that John Tucker (the Ken Doll of perfection that is Jesse Metcalfe)
is dating all three of them. But they would probably just have continued to fight amongst themselves for it if it wasn't for the new girl in town Kate (Brittany Snow) pointing out that THEY aren't the problem - John is.
Armed with their new secret weapon and full of harebrained ideas for revenge, the three girls try desperately to get even with John. However, when all these plans simply backfire on them, and all three end up dumped, they hit on the ultimate plan - to turn Kate into John's perfect woman, get him to fall for her, then have her publicly dump and humiliate him, so that he finally know what it's like to be them. But can they pull this master plan off?
---------------------BETH: I'm not even on a date with him and he------------ --------------------still manages to get me out of my skirt.----------------------
Kate, who has had a limited social and love life compared to her new friends, firstly has to get a crash course in being popular and lessons in how to flirt and even kiss. And the plan, of course, never runs smoothly. But soon she has John Tucker in the palm of her hand, hanging on her every word. But can she go ahead with the plan - and what about her new friend Scott, the "Other Tucker"?
This film seems like a fairly unique idea to me, the only similarly themed story I can think of was the book "Kiss Chase" by Fiona Walker but that was far more complicated than this. This film is much easier to follow, and is also extremely funny. The girl's revenge ideas are also very inventive, if perhaps a tad unrealistic and will make you laugh. Then you will shake your head in disbelief as John manages to somehow come out of the other side smelling of roses. It seems the guy can do no wrong, so you are rooting for the girls to want to find his Achilles Heel and hit him in a way he CAN'T wriggle out of so easily.
All four female leads pull off great performances, particularly Brittany Snow who is great as the former-nobody-turned-most-popular-girl-in-school (and has great hair, the cow!), and "One Tree Hill's" Sophia Bush as the slutty Beth provides a great deal of the comedy. As for Jesse Metcalfe - well to be honest I don't particularly rate him as an actor, I think he is far too pretty to ever be taken seriously, but he puts in a good performance. It's fairly one dimensional and shallow for the majority of the film, granted, but this is the way we are MEANT to view John for the majority of the film, before Kate gets to know him a bit better. So perhaps he is actually a much better actor than I'm giving him credit for!
There is also the comparatvely small but fairly important role of Kate's mom, who is stunningly gorgeous, has a self-destructive pattern with men and has as a result given Kate an early insight into what guys like John Tucker are like. She also has found she doesn't have a chance with men because they tend to fancy her mum more. This role is played by Jenny McCarthy - once again someone who I don't find particularly talented (although she and Pammy Anderson were kinda funny in Scary Movie 3) but who seems perfectly suited to this role.
-------SCOTT: I'll let you in on a little secret. My mom says I'm------------ ------------------------- special on the inside. --------------------------------------
Okay, so if you're looking for a serious, critically-acclaimed film, this one is definitely not for you. But if you're looking for something fluffy, lighthearted and funny with enough of a bitchy bite to give it an edge, then give "John Tucker Must Die" a go.
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Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: Quite amusing, Good looking cast Disadvantages: Don't be looking for a deep plot
clairebonnie 01.12.2006 (01.12.2006)
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