Johhn Tucker Must Die

WaffleMovies.com

Back Shelf Beauties
by Willie Waffle

John Tucker Must Die

Remember last week, when I was kicking My Super Ex-Girlfriend around for having a woman seek revenge on a guy WHO DID NOTHING WRONG? This week, the guy has done those women wrong, and deserves his punishment, but can they carry out their dastardly plan?

Brittany Snow stars as Kate - a young high school student who has bounced around from town to town as her mother, Lori (Jenny McCarthy), tries to move forward after heartbreak and despair. She always has trouble fitting in and making new friends (because, in movies, beautiful, sweet, angelic blondes with baby blue eyes have trouble making new friends and getting the attention of sex crazed teen boys), but that's about to work to her advantage.

The school stud, John Tucker (Jesse "The Smartest Man in Hollywood for jumping off the sinking ship U.S.S. Desperate Housewives" Metcalfe), makes it a habit to juggle several girlfriends at a time by dating ladies from different cliques, so they never find out about each other. However, his current crop, including head cheerleader, Heather (Ashanti); class brainiac, Carrie (Arielle Kebbel); and promiscuous tree hugging activist Beth (Sophia Bush) have discovered Tucker's ruse. While they are intent on destroying each other, Kate suggests they should direct their ire at the man who has done them wrong, John Tucker. The four quickly scheme to ruin Tucker's life, but Kate soon falls head over heels for their target.

Will Kate's love for John ruin the plan? Is she just another conquest?

They don’t really try to kill him. That might have been funnier.

John Tucker Must Die has some of the most entertaining trailers and commercials of the year, but they should have hired that editor to make the whole movie, because the film lacks the same energy and sparkle. Director Bettie Thomas seems to be uninspired by the subject as she presents a bland movie that doesn't take advantage of the likeable premise. Much of this blame can fall to the editor, Matt Friedman, who stumbles into a pattern (rut) with each set of scenes. We get the establishing shot of the high school (he shows us the front of the high school MANY times to prove to us the scene we are about to see is taking place at the school, which I guess we couldn't figure out from the classrooms, books, lockers, gym, and HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WALKING AROUND), then he forces in the music from the soundtrack, even though it has very little to do with establishing the mood of the scene (I bought one of the songs on iTunes, so I guess we are supposed to rush out and buy it due to subliminal messages), then two characters start to discuss the situation. And it goes like that over and over and over again.

A movie like this needs to be hipper, more outrageous, move faster, and have more action than we get in John Tucker Must Die. The dialogue has some good moments, the situations lend themselves to laughs (and you will laugh at the antics and twists and turns), but it feels forced and awkward (which is Thomas's fault). Also, writer Jeff Lowell uses some ideas we have seen before like the handsome guy whose picture unknowingly shows up on an STD PSA ad (Friends) and the mother who moves from town to town after heartbreak (The Perfect Man, and, if you are stealing from a Hilary Duff movie, may God have mercy on your soul).

Snow proves to be a cute leading lady, but she's working a role well within her comfort zone, much like all of the actors in John Tucker Must Die. The person who deserves kudos for doing something different is Jenny McCarthy for having the guts to play a MOMMY! Granted, she's the hottest Mom you will ever see in a movie, but still, most actresses run away from anything that might make them appear to be "old" (by Hollywood standards, anyone over the age of 25 seems old, so let's put it in perspective).

John Tucker Must Die could have been great. Instead, it's just OK.

2 Waffles (Out Of 4)

You can support this site by shopping at AllPosters.com

Click here to buy posters!