John Tucker Must Die (2006) Movie Information:

John Tucker Must Die (2006) Directed by: Betty Thomas John Tucker Must Die (2006) Written by: Jeff Lowell John Tucker Must Die (2006) Cast: Jesse Metcalfe, Brittany Snow, Ashanti Douglas, Sophia Bush, Arielle Kebbel, Jenny McCarthy

John Tucker Must Die (2006) U.S. Distributor: 20th Century Fox John Tucker Must Die (2006) U.K. Distributor: 20th Century Fox

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John Tucker Must Die (2006) Synopsis:

When three popular girls from different cliques discover they've all been dating the school stud, they band together to seek revenge. Despite the jerk’s charm and ever-growing popularity, the girls cleverly scheme with the help of the inconspicuous new girl in town, to soil his reputation and break his heart.

John Tucker Must Die (2006) Movie Review:

John Tucker (Metcalfe) is the most popular jock in school. Captain of the basketball team, every guy wants to be him and every girl wants to date him but when he tries dating head cheerleader Heather (Ashanti), school TV presenter Carrie (Kebbel) and animal rights and vegan campaigner Beth and they find out, the three girls are not very pleased to say the least. As they fight and blame each other, new student Kate (Snow) tells them that they shouldn’t be angry at each other, they should be angry with John Tucker. So the three of them decide to get their own back on him and Kate is who they are going use to do it.

All men are rouges and pigs and girls are sweet and innocence and are always the victims. Remember who the target audience is!

Teen movies aimed at female audiences are always the same. The latest teen sensation gets involved in a high school scheme and goes from zero to the most popular girl in school and catches the eye of the captain of whatever American sport is popular at the time. You know the story but there is one film that took these elements and made them fresh again, that was ‘Mean Girls’ with Lindsay Lohan. This made female oriented teen movies good again after many a barren year since 1995s ‘Clueless’. The problem is that if something is successful, you are bound to have studios trying to recreate its success.

‘John Tucker Must Die’ is an amalgamation of all the elements that made ‘Mean Girls’ such a hit with a few ideas from other films in the genre throw in for good measure. While there is nothing wrong with this, the filmmakers really have to improve on what they are trying to imitate to have a success on their hands but unfortunately they don’t. There is nothing really original here but the main problem is that the film will not appeal to anyone outside of the target audience, young girls.

What the film does have going for it however is a decent ensemble cast. After appearing in a few hit American TV shows and in the awful Vin Diesel movie ‘The Pacifier’, Brittany Snow gets her chance to shine as Kate, the girl who never gets the chance to fit in as her mother (played by the super hot Jenny McCarthy) moves every time she has a bad break up (sounds like Hillary Duff’s ‘The Perfect Man’). Ashanti, Sophia Bush and Arielle Kebbel are the dumped trio Heather, Beth and Carrie and they have fun with their roles. ‘One Tree Hill’s’ Sophia Bush has the most fun as the hippy vegan Beth, who has always been very accommodating to John Tucker’s every need. Anyone who watches the hit show ‘Desperate Housewives’ will already know all about Jesse Metcalfe. The object of every girls desire in the film and the target of the three scorned women, he does a decent job as the basketball captain and a young man who knows he can do anything he wants and get away with it.

‘John Tucker Must Die’ is a film that works but only for its target audience. If you are older than twenty-one or male who really won’t get much out of this movie as it misses the cross sectional appeal of other, more success films of this ilk. The target audience should enjoy the girliness of all but just don’t expect your boyfriend or parents to enjoy it as much as you.

Star Rating = * * * (for the target Audience)
Star Rating = * * (For everyone Else)

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John Tucker Must Die (2006) review written by: Jamie Kelwick