John Tucker Must Die is a 2006 American high school comedy romance film. The film is about a trio of girls (played by Ashanti, Sophia Bush, and Arielle Kebbel) who plot to break the heart of manipulative basketball star John Tucker (Jesse Metcalfe) after they learn he has been secretly dating all three and pledging each is "the one". They recruit cute wallflower Kate (Brittany Snow) in their scheme to publicly humiliate the cad. The movie was released in North America on July 28, 2006. It was directed by Betty Thomas. The film reached number 3 in the U.S and number 1 in Australia. It received 5.5 out of 10 stars by the IMDB users.[1]
Plot
The movie begins with Kate (Brittany Snow) relating various details of her life up to the point when the film takes place. Her mother Lori (Jenny McCarthy) is a move around-mom after bad relationships with men (Kate refers to them all as 'Skip', supposedly in relation to the way they 'skip' the relationship). She describes herself as always being "invisible." While working as a waitress, she sees local hottie John Tucker (Jesse Metcalfe) on dates with three different girls, Carrie (Arielle Kebbel), a chronic overachiever who spends her life in extracurricular clubs and working on her college application, Heather (Ashanti), who is a sassy, aggressive head cheerleader and Beth (Sophia Bush) a vegan activist who is rumored to be a promiscuous. Kate learns from a co-worker that John dates girls from different cliques at his school so that they never interact and convinces the girls who he dates to keep their relationships secret by telling them that his father does not allow him to date during basketball season.
One day in gym class Kate, Carrie, Heather, and Beth all end up on the same team for a volleyball game. The girls learn of Tucker's scheme because of Carrie's big mouth and begin fighting, landing them all in detention. Kate, who gets detention for no reason except trying to break it up, is enlisted to help in the retaliation against John Tucker. In the meantime Kate becomes friends with John's brother Scott (Penn Badgley) better known as "The Other Tucker". Despite the girls' strengths, their initial attempts to undo John through making people believe he has herpes and undermining his confidence by giving him estrogen (under the pretense of Heather insisting he needs to bulk up) are eventually utilized by him and he remains as popular as ever. Finally, after he breaks up with Carrie, Heather and Beth, they agree that breaking his heart is the ideal revenge and enlist Kate to aid them. Kate joins the cheerleading team in order to get John's attention.
He sees her after the practice, and compliments her. When Kate meets up with the troupe and tells them of John's compliment, she overreacts, and is forced to admit she's never dated anyone; however, the girls still agree to try. Kate and John go on a series of dates after John will not score the winning point at a basketball game. The first of these is a night at the local beach, watching the sunset and having a romantic fire while the other girls watch with surveillance equipment. Not prepared after John asks to take her home, Beth intervenes. To teach her how to kiss, Beth kisses Kate, but they are seen by a teen, and after Kate turns on the brights, John arrives, forcing Beth to hide in the back of his Jeep. At her house, Kate manages to buy Beth time to escape by kissing John, Beth's skirt being ruined in the process ("He's not even my date, and he still gets me out of my skirt!").
The next date is on a romantic boat ride, which Heather, Beth and Carrie have never done before. It turns out to be a nice date, and after trying to track Kate and John, the trio end up abandoning their boat after the motor breaks down and they have no cell signals. Beth later notices that Kate is starting to fall for John, and so Carrie tapes John convincing his friends in the guys' locker room that he is not whipped and will be scoring "more than baskets" at the away game. Kate, still unsure, is shown the tape at the hotel while preparing for the away basketball game and the girls try another plan to embarrass John Tucker, involving his dressing in a thong (believing that Kate has a special night planned). He is caught, and becomes the laughingstock of the school; however, John uses this to his advantage to show that he can still do basketball stunts in a thong, starting a fashion trend among the other guys.
Meanwhile, Kate's mother and Scott both discover the plan and lament the change in Kate's behavior. Afterward Kate ignores John's attempts to talk to her and she reveals that she heard about what he said in the locker room about her. John tells Kate he's whipped, gives her his watch, and asks her to be his girlfriend. Kate tells Heather, Carrie and Beth that she wants out of the plan, as whether they are plotting to destroy or dating John Tucker, it's still all about him. Later, at John's birthday party, the tape the girls made of John's destruction is played, and Kate steps on stage and reveals the entire plot. Heather, Beth and Carrie defend her after a guest throws his drink at her. Still, John Tucker is unfazed, and the party devolves into a cake fight.
A few days later, John and Kate agree to be friends, and John resolves to be honest, telling his new girlfriend about his other girlfriend. Scott, happy that Kate admitted the plot, accepts to be her lab partner again, coming up with a cheesy excuse that he cut his partner's finger off. It is hinted the two will begin dating, and Kate is now friends with Beth, Carrie, and Heather. The movie ends with Kate telling how John became truthful (John is shown introducing his girlfriend to his other one) and the movie ends with Kate saying, as she, Beth, Carrie, and Heather all sit down at a table together and start talking, "As for the girl who made John Tucker fall in love, well, she's a legend."
In an after-credits scene, Kate warns viewers at home wanting to try this that destroying a man has consequences, and the camera pans to several male teachers bending over to grab some papers, all wearing thongs.
Cast
- Jesse Metcalfe as John Tucker, the stud and team captain of the basketball team. John frequently juggles many different girlfriends at a time by only dating girls from different cliques and telling them he can't date during basketball season. After his current three girlfriends, Carrie, Heather and Beth, discover he is cheating on them, they plot to destroy his reputation by first claiming he has herpes and then giving him estrogen to make him less manly. After these attempts fail, the girls enlist Kate, a girl who has helped their plots, to date him and break his heart. John dates her and begins to actually fall for her, doing crazy stunts like a romantic boat ride and scaling a balcony in a thong, despite claiming to his friends he isn't "whipped", and will be scoring more than baskets. John asks her to be his girlfriend, claiming that he is whipped, but is later publicly humiliated at his birthday party when the girls reveal the entire plot. Kate and he call a truce, and he vows to be honest, introducing his new girlfriends to each other.
- Brittany Snow as Kate Spencer, a girl who has remained "invisible" and is familiar with dishonest relationships, as her mother Lori has dated so many guys she simply calls them all "Skip", knowing they'll skip town. Kate agrees to help Carrie, Beth and Heather after seeing John cheat on all of them, coming up with plots to destroy his reputation. After their initial attempts fail, Kate agrees to date John to get him to truly fall in love, and then break his heart. Kate at first successfully plays hard-to-get, despite having no prior boyfriends, but falls for him as they go on more dates. After she is shown a video of John claiming he'll be "scoring more than baskets" at the away game, her confidence is renewed, and they humiliate him. However, comments from her mother and Scott, John's brother and her lab partner, about her change in attitude, cause her to rethink her decision, and she bails out of the schemes. She later reveals the entire plot at John's birthday party, which dissolves into a cake fight. Kate and John form a truce, and she, Carrie, Beth and Heather remain friends, with it being strongly hinted that she and Scott will start dating.
- Arielle Kebbel as Carrie Schaffer, a chronic overachiever who spends her life in extracurricular clubs and working on her college application. She discovers that her boyfriend John Tucker is cheating on her with Heather and Beth, and with Kate's help, masterminds many of the plots against John. Carrie uses slide shows, a boob cam and a remote camera to spy on Kate and John's dates, and a portable camera to spy on John in the locker room. Carrie is the most level headed of the group, often serving as the unofficial leader, and helps the group keep together after Kate leaves; she and the others later reveal the entire plot, defending Kate at John's birthday party. Despite their fallout, Carrie resumes her friendship with Kate and the others, agreeing (despite comment on it not helping her college application) to just "hang out".
- Ashanti as Heather, the sassy, aggressive head cheerleader of their school. She too discovers John has been cheating on her, and agrees to join Carrie, Beth and Kate in their plots for revenge against him. After the others notice that she has been using estrogen pills (and convince her to quit, noting that they reduce natural hormones, which once out will cause a mustache and penis to grow), Heather puts some of it in John's medicines, convincing him to double up doses by telling him he's losing tone. This and other attempts fail, so the group decides to break his heart by making him fall in love with Kate. Heather, knowing he likes girls on top of the pyramid, lets Kate do the honors, and John notices. After Kate leaves, she and the others reveal the entire plot, defending her at John's birthday party; the girls remain friends by the end of the film.
- Sophia Bush as Beth, a vegan activist who is rumored to be (and later admits to being) a slut. Beth also discovers that John has been cheating on her with Carrie and Heather, and joins them and Kate to bring down his reputation. She initially aids them by having John do a photoshoot and later using the photos at an assembly to claim he has genital herpes. This fails, and the girls decide that the best way to bring John down is to break his heart, and have Kate start dating him. Kate is unprepared after a romantic date when he wants to give her a ride home, and Beth gives her a kissing lesson, which leads to her having to hide in John's truck. She escapes, but loses her skirt in the process ("He's not even my date, and he still gets me out of my skirt!") After Kate leaves the group, Beth is initially sad; however, she and the other girls later defend Kate at John's birthday party. By the end of the film, all of the girls are friends, and they go to hang out.
- Jenny McCarthy as Lori Spencer, Kate's mother, who has had frequent short relationships with men (causing Kate to call them all "Skip"). She has done this so often that she simply eats chocolate after a break-up, and they pack up and move to a different town. Lori is opposed to the idea of destroying a man's reputation from the heart, advising Kate to be careful. She later notices Kate's change and laments it. After she is proven right, Lori tells her that she chose to be invisible, and that she should show her true self to her friends.
- Penn Badgley as Scott Tucker, John's younger brother and Kate's lab partner, more commonly known as "The Other Tucker". He is interested in Kate from the beginning of the film, enjoying many interests with her and the two of them enjoying their time teasing each other in chemistry and about cheerleading. Scott tries to ask Kate out, but she is asked out by John instead, and he laments the change, declining to be her lab partner. He tells Kate his feelings, pointing out that she used to be different but now is "cooking up schemes" with Carrie, Beth and Heather against John. He approves of her admitting the plot, and they become lab partners again, with it being strongly hinted that they will start dating. His other lab partner, Alex was constantly injured by him.
Production
Filming locations
Most of the filming was done at the Heritage Woods Secondary School in Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada during the summer of 2005, and set in Seattle, The movie is the first major film to host its official homepage on MySpace; the film's production studio, 20th Century Fox, is a subsidiary of News Corporation, which also owns MySpace. The DVD was released on November 14, 2006.
Music
- "Dirty Little Secret" - The All-American Rejects
- "Honestly" - Cartel
- "Chelsea" - Stefy
- "Hope Song" - Rock Kills Kid
- "Instantly Gratified" - People in Planes
- "Better Open the Door" - Motion City Soundtrack
- "Time After Time" - Quietdrive
- "Fool for Love" - Stefy
- "This Will Be Our Year" - OK Go
- "I Like What You Say" - Nada Surf
- "Float On" - Ben Lee
- "Sunset Lover" - Josh Kelley
- "We Got to Leave" - Caesars
- "The Next Big Thing" - Rockett Queen
- "Not Giving Up" - Hudson
Many songs that were featured in the film were not included on the soundtrack, such as "Maneater" by Nelly Furtado, "Wikked Lil' Grrrls" by Esthero, "Just the Girl" by The Click Five, "Can I Get Get Get" by Junior Senior, "I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)" by the Eagles of Death Metal, "Hey Kid" by Matt Willis, and "I Want You to Want Me" by Cheap Trick.
Reception
In its opening weekend, the film grossed a total of USD$14,276,534, ranking third in the U.S. box office results for that weekend. As of November 2, the film grossed $41.0 million domestically.[2]
The film was negatively reviewed by most critics. Jeannette Catsoulis of the New York Times wrote that the film is "unforgivably clueless about teen culture" and "can't even sustain the courage of its girl-power convictions." Catsoulis was also critical of Metcalfe's "unconvincing" performance, writing that he musters "fewer expressions than a Botox infomercial."[3]
References
External links
