John Tucker Must Die
John Tucker Must Die (2006)
Directed by Betty Thomas
OK, so as must as I enjoy 80s teen movies (Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink) and also the 90s teen movies I watched growing up (i.e. Can't Hardly Wait,
10 Things I Hate About You) - I figured, for this assignment, I should watch *current* teen movies that teens might be watching, in order to see what current teen movies are like.
The verdict is: teen movies are about the same as they always have been. Kind of lame, featuring lots of cute outfits, implausible contrivances that all work themselves out at a big party. This movie did have some interesting bits, for instance, the casting of Jenny McCarthy at the protagonists' mother. Now, suprisingly, Jenny actually did a decent job in the role. Regrettably, she looked to be only about 5-10 years older than the protagonist's friends or love interests. But here is how I look at this - when two of your movie's leads (Ashanti and Jesse Metcalfe) are both between 1978 and 1980 - and it is 2006 - and you are expected to believe these people as HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, there is something clearly wrong here. Although, Penn Badgley, who plays Jesse Metcalfe's brother, was allegedly born in 1986 even though he looks about 30.
In any case, I have to believe that the phemenon of casting mid-20s people as high schoolers is similar to how teens read books about characters older than them - teens want to watch movies starring people who look older than them. With the exception of Brittany Snow, who stars in this "film", who was born in 1986 and actually is somewhat believable as a high schooler.
The plot in brief: Brittany Snow's character has come to become very cynical about love, after seeing her mother (Jenny McCarthy) repeatedly have her heart broken by a variety of creeps. Jenny's way to deal with this is to move her and her daughter around a lot - but Brittany has always been a wallflower and so she never really makes friends wherever they go. UNTIL - through a variety of contrivances - she comes to see that the Big Man on her latest campus, John Tucker, is three-timing three of the school's most popular girls. (The three girls are from different cliques - one is a cheerleader, one is a vegan activist, the other is an overachiever, so John Tucker figured the three would never talk to one another - LITTLE DID HE KNOW that his own HOTNESS would trigger the gym teacher's ANGINA so that all of the first-period gym classes were put together and the three girls would all meet!!)
Anyway. So, the three wronged girls entail Brittany to seduce and then destroy John T. They have to coach Brittany in how to lure John, but at the same time, Brittany has already been hitting it off with John's "younger" brother,Heath Ledger from 10 Things I Hate About You Penn Badgley.
And so, of course in secuding John, Brittany kind of falls for him. And
Penn gets kind of annoyed that she likes his brother and not him. And
then Brittany realizes it was wrong to use John like this. And the
three girlfriends all realize they were wrong for encouraing her to.
And then they all have a big cake fight. I wish I was kidding.
Looking at this "film" objectively, I would say that it does have some OK lessons for teens, such as Be Yourself! And also, If A Guy Won't Admit He Is Your Boyfriend In Public, He Kind Of Sucks. And also, Girl Power! And also, Tiny Cameras Hidden In Your Cleavage Are Able To Get Surprisingly Clear Images Of Both You And The Person You Are Facing.
But this isn't a movie you watch for life lessons. It is a movie you watch because in one scene, Brittany kisses another girl! And because in one scene, John runs around in a thong! And becauseHeath Ledger
Penn Badgley is totally dreamy! And because Jesse Metcalfe clearly has
a good personal trainer and he isn't afraid to take off his shirt a lot!
Brittany's character is kind of the heart of the movie, and she is sweet and sympathetic, in the model of Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls. They even both undergo a similar wallflower, low ponytail, layered clothing makeover into trampy popular girl clothes and flat-ironed hair. Buried very deeply underneath all of the frantic trying to be cool and edgy and funny, is a kind of sweet story about a girl coming into her own. And I think today's teens might find themselves being nostalgic about this movie ten years from now, when a new film comes out starring some Penn Badgley lookalike.
Oh, and I almost forgot my favourite part - when John is falling for Brittany, he goes to talk to Penn about what Brittany is like (because Brittany and Penn are lab partners). And Penn tells John that Brittany is deep - she likes "old school Elvis Costello, obscure podcasts, and reading Dave Eggers." ... "Obscure podcasts?" Riiiiight. Are we talking about Brittany here, or the movie's thirty-five-year-old alcoholic writers?
Anyway. This is an OK movie. I give it, four out of ten for adults and seven out of ten for teens.
Rating: Good for teens aged 14+
Directed by Betty Thomas
OK, so as must as I enjoy 80s teen movies (Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink) and also the 90s teen movies I watched growing up (i.e. Can't Hardly Wait,
10 Things I Hate About You) - I figured, for this assignment, I should watch *current* teen movies that teens might be watching, in order to see what current teen movies are like.
The verdict is: teen movies are about the same as they always have been. Kind of lame, featuring lots of cute outfits, implausible contrivances that all work themselves out at a big party. This movie did have some interesting bits, for instance, the casting of Jenny McCarthy at the protagonists' mother. Now, suprisingly, Jenny actually did a decent job in the role. Regrettably, she looked to be only about 5-10 years older than the protagonist's friends or love interests. But here is how I look at this - when two of your movie's leads (Ashanti and Jesse Metcalfe) are both between 1978 and 1980 - and it is 2006 - and you are expected to believe these people as HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, there is something clearly wrong here. Although, Penn Badgley, who plays Jesse Metcalfe's brother, was allegedly born in 1986 even though he looks about 30.
In any case, I have to believe that the phemenon of casting mid-20s people as high schoolers is similar to how teens read books about characters older than them - teens want to watch movies starring people who look older than them. With the exception of Brittany Snow, who stars in this "film", who was born in 1986 and actually is somewhat believable as a high schooler.
The plot in brief: Brittany Snow's character has come to become very cynical about love, after seeing her mother (Jenny McCarthy) repeatedly have her heart broken by a variety of creeps. Jenny's way to deal with this is to move her and her daughter around a lot - but Brittany has always been a wallflower and so she never really makes friends wherever they go. UNTIL - through a variety of contrivances - she comes to see that the Big Man on her latest campus, John Tucker, is three-timing three of the school's most popular girls. (The three girls are from different cliques - one is a cheerleader, one is a vegan activist, the other is an overachiever, so John Tucker figured the three would never talk to one another - LITTLE DID HE KNOW that his own HOTNESS would trigger the gym teacher's ANGINA so that all of the first-period gym classes were put together and the three girls would all meet!!)
Anyway. So, the three wronged girls entail Brittany to seduce and then destroy John T. They have to coach Brittany in how to lure John, but at the same time, Brittany has already been hitting it off with John's "younger" brother,
Looking at this "film" objectively, I would say that it does have some OK lessons for teens, such as Be Yourself! And also, If A Guy Won't Admit He Is Your Boyfriend In Public, He Kind Of Sucks. And also, Girl Power! And also, Tiny Cameras Hidden In Your Cleavage Are Able To Get Surprisingly Clear Images Of Both You And The Person You Are Facing.
But this isn't a movie you watch for life lessons. It is a movie you watch because in one scene, Brittany kisses another girl! And because in one scene, John runs around in a thong! And because
Brittany's character is kind of the heart of the movie, and she is sweet and sympathetic, in the model of Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls. They even both undergo a similar wallflower, low ponytail, layered clothing makeover into trampy popular girl clothes and flat-ironed hair. Buried very deeply underneath all of the frantic trying to be cool and edgy and funny, is a kind of sweet story about a girl coming into her own. And I think today's teens might find themselves being nostalgic about this movie ten years from now, when a new film comes out starring some Penn Badgley lookalike.
Oh, and I almost forgot my favourite part - when John is falling for Brittany, he goes to talk to Penn about what Brittany is like (because Brittany and Penn are lab partners). And Penn tells John that Brittany is deep - she likes "old school Elvis Costello, obscure podcasts, and reading Dave Eggers." ... "Obscure podcasts?" Riiiiight. Are we talking about Brittany here, or the movie's thirty-five-year-old alcoholic writers?
Anyway. This is an OK movie. I give it, four out of ten for adults and seven out of ten for teens.
Rating: Good for teens aged 14+
