Maybe if John Tucker (Jesse Metcalfe) did die, this sad foray into teen romantic comedy wouldn’t be so demoralizing. But the high-school superstar and lothario keeps bouncing back, as resilient as a Republican administration, after taking the worst that a trio of wronged exes (Arielle Kebbel; Ashanti; Sophia Bush) in search of vengeance can dish out at him. As a last resort they set him up to fall in love with Kate (Brittany Snow), a newcomer who’s “anonymous” because she doesn’t fit into any of the school clichés, er, cliques. The outcome of that ploy, like everything else, will surprise and delight only those for whom such misogynist stereotypes as binge eating, or an estrogen joke last seen in the remake of The Longest Yard, are refreshingly hilarious. Director Betty Thomas, whose clever The Brady Bunch Movie must have been a fluke, seems to have learned everything she knows about teenagers from old John Hughes movies; some crappy concepts never die. On the Web:
John Tucker Must Die on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/johntucker
John Tucker Must Die's official Web Site: http://www.johntuckermustdiemovie.com
