 If you take the title of Betty Thomas's film on good faith, John Tucker Must Die promises an offbeat, mean-spirited revenge fantasy à la Heathers. Regrettably, screenwriter Jeff Lowell is more interested in convention than subversion, and he likes his characters far too much to inflict lasting pain upon them. Clueless, Mean Girls and Bring It On dissected the rituals and the tribal warfare of high school much more acerbically, and had more fun in the process. That said, John Tucker Must Die boasts winning performances and Lowell has numerous decent one-liners in his armoury. The lust object in question is strapping captain of the basketball team, John Tucker (Jesse Metcalfe). No girl, it seems, is immune to his charms. Handsome, charming, athletic, soulful - John would make the perfect boyfriend for any girl, and he currently has three in rotation: aspiring journalist Carrie, ardent vegetarian Beth, and captain of the cheerleading squad Heather. When the girlfriends learn that John has been playing the field, they lash out at one another, until the new girl at school, Kate (Brittany Snow), suggests the target of their ire should be John himself. So the three girls, aided by Kate, devise a foolproof plan of attack. They resolve to transform Kate into the most desirable girl in school and make John fall in love with her, so that she can publicly break his heart. The deception works a treat: John becomes infatuated with Kate, especially when she rebuffs his advances. However, Kate's inexperience with boys soon proves her downfall as she starts to fall in love with the lothario. Leading man Jesse Metcalfe panders shamelessly to fans of Desperate Housewives, in which he played a sex-bomb gardener, by wearing as little as possible, including a sequence clad in little more than a thong and a smile. John Tucker Must Strip would have been a much more appropriate title for this frothy confection. The female leads all bring a great deal of energy to their contrasting roles while the soundtrack skips merrily through a breezy selection of rock and pop tracks including Nelly Furtado's chart-topping Maneater. | 
Movie double-acts come in all shapes and sizes ...and with varying degrees of success.
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