JOHN TUCKER MUST DIE

US, 2006, 89 minutes, Colour.
Jesse Metcalfe, Brittany Snow, Ashanti, Sophia Bush, Arielle Kebbel, Penn Badgley, Jenny Mc Carthy.
Directed by Betty Thomas.

It’s a pity that Jesse Metcalfe (Desperate Housewives) looks so decently clean-cut because we are meant to loathe him and his front that he puts up to win girls (not that he needs to since they all seem to be lining up). Three rejected seniors, goaded on by our heroine, the wallflower, Kate (Brittany Snow), decide that they will give him his comeuppance. They decide that he must fall in love with Kate and, with the video footage they take, they will expose him for the rotter that he is.

So far, so… immersed are we in the Hollywood teen and high school comedy. John tucker is for a niche audience - even parents may find it trying. Here we have a group of mean girls who may have overdosed on Cruel Intentions.

Everything they try, however, turns to John Tucker’s advantage. They pretend he has an STD – he wins and award for courage. They fill him with estrogen and he collapses weeping and ultrasensitive on the basketball court. He is hailed for his sensitivity. He is caught in the dorm wearing only a female thong – and he proves that it is better to play effectively wearing one! Hell hath no fury like a cheerleader scorned!

You know there is going to be some moralising at the end… truth, honesty, love, commitment (though the final over-flip passing joke almost undermines it all).

No pressing reason to see it.

1.The intended audience? Younger audience? Older audiences? Niche market for young audiences?

2.The campus setting, the town, homes? School? Basketball? The musical score, the range of songs?

3.The title, the focus on John Tucker, his being the star jock of the school, his attitude towards women, his comeuppance?

4.The title, “Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned…”?

5.The focus on Kate, her saying that she was invisible, the photo? Moving from town to town? School to school? Nobody missing her? Her relationship with her mother, her mother’s range of boyfriends and their all leaving? Her calling them Skip? Going to school, the reputation of John Tucker? His coming into the restaurant, her waiting on the table, her behaviour? Seeing him with the different girls? His manner? Her meeting Heather, Beth and Carrie? Her challenging them about John Tucker? The decision to attack him? The girls on-side? The plan, making him fall in love with her? Her inexperience, inabilities? Leading him on? Everything being videoed? Her videoing the denunciation of him? The outing, the restaurant, the same talk? Her glamour, the dresses? The social functions, on the boat? The seeing of the video, the girls taping him in the changing block? Her reaction? Her mother’s advice against doing what she was planning? Going to the birthday party, the cake, the showing of the video, her wanting to stop it? Her relationship with Scott, his being John’s brother, more ordinary, sharing things in the laboratory, his advice, his standing her up? Her trying to remedy the situation? The final confrontation, her telling the truth, the reaction of the young people?

6.The girls, their vanity, cheerleaders etc? Out with John Tucker? Thinking they were special? Combining in the detention room, the plans, the video, the advice? Their personalities, still prepared to squabble amongst themselves? The final expose?

7.Scott, the contrast with his brother, genial, nice, hope for Kate?

8.Kate’s mother, the boyfriends, her glamour, being challenged by Kate, her taking her advice, giving advice?

9.The background of the students, Fatso, his helping John? The basketball coach, the girls’ coach? The various students?

10.The campaign against John Tucker and its backfiring? The slides and saying he had a venereal disease? His getting an award for his courage? The oestrogen, his becoming very feminine, at the basketball, his tears? Everybody praising him for his sensitivity? The thong, being caught in the dormitory, his quick thinking and saying it was better for playing basketball, it becoming a trend?

11.The moralising, fidelity, commitment? The offhand joke the John Tucker and the two girls at the end? The popularity of this kind of American teen comedy?