John Tucker Must Die

Sophia Bush as Beth in John Tucker Must Die (2006)

Arielle Kebbel as Carrie in John Tucker Must Die (2006)

Ashanti as Heather in John Tucker Must Die (2006)

Brittany Snow as Kate in John Tucker Must Die (2006)

John Tucker Must Die is a 2006 teen comedy film directed by Betty Thomas. The film stars Jesse Metcalfe, Brittany Snow, Ashanti, Sophia Bush, Arielle Kebbel, and Jenny McCarthy.

The story is loosely based on William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. Released in North America on July 28, 2006, the film made $68 million worldwide.

Synopsis

The plot centers around a trio of teenage girls who plan to break the heart of school basketball star John Tucker after they learn he has been secretly dating all three and pledging each is "the one". They recruit a shy, unpopular girl in their scheme to publicly humiliate him.

Plot

Teenager Kate Spencer lives with her single mother, Lori, near Portland, Oregon, where Kate works as a waitress. While at work, Kate sees popular local boy John Tucker on dates with three different girls: chronic overachiever Carrie, head cheerleader Heather, and promiscuous liberal vegan activist Beth. She learns from a co worker that he dates girls from different cliques at his school so that they never interact. John convinces the girls to keep their relationships secret by claiming he is forbidden to date during basketball season.

The three girls learn about John's scheme after ending up on the same volleyball team in gym class. They meet Kate in detention, and after discovering she's able to see through him, the girls enlist her help in seeking revenge against John.

Meanwhile, Kate becomes friends with John's brother Scott. The girls make several attempts to bring John down, but these initial pranks backfire. He breaks up with all three girls, and they agree that breaking his heart is the ideal revenge. They enlist Kate to be the heartbreaker.

After a makeover, Kate joins the cheerleading squad to get John's attention. He tries to flirt her, but she dismisses him. John is dismayed that a girl is impervious to his charms, and becomes determined to win her affections. He relentlessly chases after Kate, even driving by her house, much to the girls amusement as they watch him fall for her.

After a few dates, Beth notices that Kate is falling for John. To counteract this, Carrie secretly videotapes John bragging to his friends in the locker room, saying he will be "scoring more than baskets" at the upcoming away game. Upon seeing his chauvinistic behavior, Kate recommits to the plan.

At a hotel on the night of the away game, Kate seduces John on a video chat, instructing him to put on a lacy pair of girl's thong panties and climb out of his room and into hers. He mistakenly climbs into a teacher's room instead, and becomes the laughingstock of the school. John again uses this to his advantage, convincing the boys on his team that wearing the thong panties improves his game. Meanwhile, Kate's mother and Scott both discover the plan and lament the change in Kate's behavior.

Kate tells John that she heard about what he said in the locker room. He makes amends by giving her his watch and asking her to be his girlfriend. Kate tells Heather, Carrie, and Beth that she wants to be out of the plan, as whether they are dating or plotting to destroy John, it is still all about him. At John's birthday, the tape the girls made of John's destruction is played, and Kate reveals the entire plot in front of a devastated John.

Heather, Beth, and Carrie defend Kate after a guest throws his drink at her. Still, John appears unfazed, and the party devolves into a cake fight. A few days later, he and Kate agree to be friends, and he resolves to be honest. Scott, happy that Kate confessed, becomes her lab partner again, and it is hinted they will begin dating.

Cast

Jesse Metcalfe

Brittany Snow

Ashanti

Sophia Bush

Arielle Kebbel

Penn Badgley

Fatso Fasano

Jenny McCarthy

Patricia Drake

Taylor Kitsch

Kevin McNulty

Amber Borycki

Meghan Ory

Greg Cipes

Samantha McLeod

Nicole LaPlaca

People in Planes

Reception

Box office

The film premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, with Betty Thomas and Arielle Kebbel in attendance. In its opening weekend, the film grossed a total of $14.3 million, ranking third in the box office results for that weekend. The film went on to gross $41.9 million in the United States and Canada, and a total of $68.8 million worldwide. The opening weekend 3rd place rank was at the high end of studio expectations. The film was heavily promoted to female teenagers on Myspace, and the studio believed this campaign was successful, as the opening weekend audience was 75% female and 68% under 25.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 27% based on 95 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "This derivative teen comedy tries to go for cute when it could use more bite." On Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 41 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Home media

The DVD was released on November 14, 2006. A Blu-ray Disc version was released on January 10, 2012. Both releases contain theatrical and extended versions of the film as well as a director's commentary, deleted scenes and featurettes.

Sequel

In March 2024, Metcalfe claimed a script had been written for a sequel and it was "circulating Hollywood", stating he had yet to read it but would like to be in the film. A few days later during a panel at Epic Cons Chicago, Metcalfe, Bush, and Kebbel claimed the existence of the script and revealed that it involved all of the original cast.