John Tucker Must Die (2006)

Three ex-girlfriends of a serial cheater set up their former lover to fall for the new girl in town so they can watch him get his heart broken.

Director:

Betty Thomas

Writer:

Jeff Lowell

Stars:

Jesse Metcalfe, Ashanti, Sophia Bush

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jesse Metcalfe	...	John Tucker
Brittany Snow	...	Kate
Ashanti	...	Heather
Sophia Bush	...	Beth
Arielle Kebbel	...	Carrie
Penn Badgley	...	Scott
Jenny McCarthy	...	Lori
Fatso-Fasano	...	Tommy (as Fatsô-Fasanô)
Kevin McNulty	...	Basketball Coach
Patricia Drake	...	Coach Williams
Amanda Li	...	Spelling Bee Girl
Jeffrey Ballard	...	Cute Boy (as Jeff Ballard)
Taylor Kitsch	...	Justin
Steve Bacic	...	Skip #1
Dean Wray	...	Skip #2

Storyline

Kate (Brittany Snow) is the new girl in school. She catches John Tucker (Jesse Metcalfe) dating three different girls at once: Carrie - the smart girl, Heather - the cheerleader, and Beth - the activist slut; none of them are aware that they are not the only girl in John's heart. Kate, having been raised by a single mother, has seen the pain caused by playboys like John Tucker, and she won't stand idly by. Together with the three jilted ex-girlfriends, they hatch a plan to teach John a lesson. Things rarely go as planned, especially when Kate starts to think that she might be falling for John herself.

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Plot Keywords:

school | cheerleader | dating | single mother | thong | 

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Taglines:

Women Want Him. Men Want to Be Him. But These Girls Want to Kill Him.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official MySpace Site ("Beth") Official MySpace Site ("Carrie")

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 July 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

John Tucker doit mourir

Filming Locations:

Azure Lounge & Grill Bar - 770 Pacific Blvd., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$150,634 (New Zealand) (22 September 2006)

Gross:

$41,009,669 (USA) (27 October 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Landscape Entertainment, Dune Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

While shooting the sound of the extras flip-flops proved too distracting, so Betty Thomas made most of them change into tennis shoes.

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Goofs

In the hotel, Kate tells John she is 3 doors down, and he sneaks int the coach's room. After getting caught, Kate "made a mistake" and it was actually "4 doors instead of 3." However, her room is diagonally across the hall from John's.

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Quotes

Heather: So I talked to John. He was sweet. He felt bad for you. He said that you were jealous because we share something special. Something that we don't have to label because...
Beth: [interrupting] Because it's our unspoken bond and I just love how secure you are?
Carrie: And it hurts me to question it, because...
Heather, Beth, Carrie: [at the same time] ... YOU'RE THE ONLY GIRL FOR ME?
Heather: Damn! He said the same thing to all of us!
Beth: Figures. He makes up with us and he hooks up with us...
Carrie: [interrupts, whispers] You guys hooked up?
Beth: John and I ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

A little bit into the credits and there's a scene in Tokyo, Japan. There are three girls out by a fountain looking at their cell phones. Of course, the picture on the cell phone screen in John Tucker in thong.

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Connections

References The O.C. (2003)

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Soundtracks

"Better Open the Door"
Written by Justin Courtney Pierre (as Justin Pierre), Joshua Cain, Jesse Johnson,
Mathew Taylor and Tony Thaxton
Performed by Motion City Soundtrack
Courtesy of Epitaph

User Reviews

Run-of-the-mill teen comedy

You'd think that a movie called "John Tucker Must Die" will approach the parameters of a gritty look on high school-style existentialism. As the National Geographic Channel puts it, think again.

John Tucker (Jesse Metcalfe of "Desperate Housewives") is the star of their high school's basketball team, and he's secretly dating three girls simultaneously. Upon learning how their "serial-cheating" boyfriend is three-timing them, cheerleader Heather (Ashanti), intellectual Carrie (Arielle Kebbel) and activist Beth (Sophia Bush) plot for revenge. They set him to fall for new girl Kate Spencer (Brittany Snow) and have her break his heart later on.

So that's "John Tucker Must Die." It's a film that tries to go for the feel-good parts of the standard teen flick, along with the usual high school relationship subplots. But gritty it's not. Though initially the movie seems to head towards being an effective satirical comedy, it immediately becomes just another stock sleaze. Betty Thomas' direction is breezy enough but she fails to give the film a distinctive bite as Jeff Lowell's screenplay seems not to draw a bead on to the vaguest notion of creativity.

Metcalfe is effective as the eponymous lead while Snow (who I recall as Zoe in "The Pacifier") could have been charming but the problematic script doesn't give her a juicy character that could rise beyond its stereotype and she ends up bland. In fact, one could arguably root more for John Tucker. As for the rest of the cast, they're a mixed bag with Ashanti and Jenny McCarthy as Kate's mom figuring prominently in my head.

"John Tucker Must Die" isn't so much an absolute schlock. Despite its transparent and derivative nature, it does have some of its moments that elicit chuckles. It's that sort of movies I watch on sleepless nights on cable given the right mood. But with a title as toothsome as that, it tantalizingly could have been way better.