John Tucker Must Die (2006)

As Good As It Gets

Absolutely brilliant

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

John Tucker Must Die (2006): Dir: Betty Thomas / Cast: Jesse Metcalfe, Brittany Snow, Sophia Bush, Ashanti Douglas, Penn Badgley: Stupid teen comedy about revenge. High school basketball player John Tucker is dating three women at once without them knowing it. Only waitress Kate seems to notice since she has waited on their tables. When the truth reveals itself they plot revenge by turning Kate into a cheerleader to break his heart. Mean Girls is so much better and funnier than this cheap trash. Total formula with an insincere ending. Directed by Betty Thomas who once made the great Howard Stern comedy Private Parts. This is a major decline of quality. She knows her subject but chooses mediocre projects that compare to earlier misfires such as I Spy and Doctor Dolittle. Jesse Metcalfe as Tucker is never likable, and Brittany Snow is suppose to be seen as a nerd until they whore her up. Sophia Bush and Ashanti Douglas play dumped girls. Its theme of taking advantage of people and retaliation was better placed in the superior Mean Girls. Penn Badgley plays John Tucker's brother who is the nice one who will get the girl in the end. What he doesn't get is a decent film role here. This is totally phony teen trash aimed at teenage girls who are no doubt smarter than this. But John Tucker should not be the one to die here. The film should die from several blows via sledgehammer. Score: 2 / 10

I absolutely love this movie. It's so funny, the cast is amazing, and it is one of my all-time favorite movies.This movie is about a guy named John Tucker. At his High School he is the most popular, and the most athletic. Every guy wants to be him and every girl wants to be with him. Which is good for him, since he dates multiple girls at once. He dates girls from different cliques so they never talk to each other. He uses pet names so he doesn't mix their names up. One day, a new girl, Kate, is stuck in detention with three girls all fighting over John. Eventually, they team up to take John down. Kate becomes his new love-interest and then she's going to break his heart. But feelings may get in the way.Best part of the movie: When Kate and the girls are figuring out a way to destroy John.Worst part of the movie: When John climbs on the ledge of a building.Overall, I give this movie a 10 out of 10, which in my ratings book is: Freaking Ridonkulous.

John Tucker Must Die is like the cute but somewhat dim witted cousin of Mean Girls. It's not as smart or interesting but it's still nice to look at. Instead of putting some thought into a story about the real way high school kids live, this film is content to be marginally amusing and about as deep and realistic as the average episode of Saved By The Bell.Kate (Brittany Snow) is the new girl in school. She's passing through her life like she's not even there until three of the popular girls, an overachiever (Arielle Kebbel), a cheerleader (Ashanti) and a hippie activist (Sophia Bush), all discover they're dating the same guy - high school demigod John Tucker (Jesse Metcalf). That sets the girls at each other's throats, until Kate sets them straight about how they're being used. She can do that because her mom has dated an unending stream of older versions of John Tucker. The united foursome set out to get revenge but fail repeatedly. Then they get the idea of making John Tucker fall in love with Kate and breaking his heart the way he broke theirs. The problem is that Kate starts to fall under John Tucker's spell, in addition to developing a flirtation with his brother (Penn Badgely). So the question becomes…just who is going to break whose heart?This movie has a very attractive cast, a charming tone, a quick pace and a script that isn't insultingly stupid. There aren't a lot of laugh out loud moments, but it's inoffensive and will provoke a few smiles. There's a basic level of competent storytelling at work here that, sadly, you don't see all the time. It's really not a bad film.However, it is very easy to sum up the problems with John Tucker Must Die. It's that John Tucker has a last name and neither Kate nor the other three girls do. There's no effort made to ground this story in anything real. It's a collection of clichés that are only slightly rearranged from all the other films and TV shows you've seen them in. It's not based on anyone's actual high school experience or an attempt to understand the dynamics that drive young people to do the things they do. Every situation, characterization and line of dialog here is tissue thin, with no surprises or anything to engage your brain or heart.But not every movie needs to be a masterpiece. Sometimes all you want or need is a frothy diversion and John Tucker Must Die fits that bill. It's pleasant, unchallenging and uninvolving. As long as you don't expect it to have more bite than a 90 year old grandma who's lost her dentures, you'll probably like it…and then quickly forget it.

John Tucker. The guy that every girl wants as her boyfriend. So what happens when three girls from three different cliques find out that they're dating the same guy? Simple. They get revenge. They use the new girl in school to go out with him, and to break his heart, so he knows how all those girls felt when they got dumped.I think this was a really funny movie, Jesse Metcalfe as John Tucker was very funny and charming,while Brittany Snow is cute. Ashanti just overacts, while Arielle Kebbel is okay. Sophia Bush is just hilarious at times.Definitely worth a watch!!