John Tucker Must Die (2006)

Sweetness does not necessarily equal laughs in John Tucker Must Die, an airy teen comedy in dire need of an attitude adjustment. While the flick may play swimmingly to its eager to please audience, there's little in the production that actually earns such blind adoration. The premise seems rife for high school cynicism, but unfortunately, the whole thing plays out too good-natured for it to have any real kick. Even the villain of the piece, good old John Tucker himself (played by the far too old Jesse Metcalf), is molded into a kind soul just halfway through the flick, thus handing the only malicious deeds to the trio of ladies trying to get back at him -- who by the way, spend half of their time exiled in flat moments of slapstick shtick. One might expect more from director Betty Thomas, although one look at the rest of her filmography reminds folks just how mediocre most of her output can be under the Hollywood system. In the end, it's the teen girl/early college crowd that will fan the flame of this junker -- finding zero faults with the movie just as long as the boys are cute and the misunderstood girl gets the right guy in the end. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide