John Tucker Must Die *** (2006, Jesse Metcalfe, Brittany Snow, Ashanti, Sophia Bush, Arielle Kebbel, Jenny McCarthy) – Classic Movie Review 13,459

The amusing 2006 teen romantic comedy film John Tucker Must Die stars Jesse Metcalfe, who describes his character as ‘dishonest, misogynistic and totally reckless’.

‘Don’t Get Mad, Get Even’

Director Betty Thomas’s daft, airheaded but amusing 2006 teen romantic comedy film John Tucker Must Die stars Jesse Metcalfe, Brittany Snow, Ashanti, Sophia Bush, Arielle Kebbel, and Jenny McCarthy.

Thoroughly well targeted, and quite fun, it knows its place and its audience. Some credit goes to Jesse Metcalfe, who seems made for romcoms, and some to writer Jeff Lowell, who hits the target. His plot is supposedly based loosely on William Shakespeare’s comedy play The Merry Wives of Windsor, but who would know, or even care?

New girl in high school Kate (Brittany Snow) catches school hunk John Tucker (Jesse Metcalfe) secretly dating three different teenage girls at once: smart Carrie (Arielle Kebbel), cheerleader Heather (Ashanti) and activist slut Beth (Sophia Bush), all thinking that they are ‘the one’. So they hatch a plan to teach John a lesson.

It was released by 20th Century Fox on July 28, 2006, and was a big hit at the box office, taking $68.8 million on a budget of $18 million.

Running time: 89 minutes.

Metcalfe describes his character as ‘dishonest, misogynistic and totally reckless’.

In 2024 Metcalfe and Bush said there was a script for a sequel with the original cast, and in March 2025  Ashanti said: ‘Arielle, she texts me! We’ve been going back and forth a little bit. She told me that she had the idea and I was like, “Listen, if we can get it together, I’m down.”‘

Metcalfe said: ‘There is a script. I have read that script. It’s over at 20th Century Fox. It’s not green lit just yet. It really seems like there’s an appetite for it, and we’ll see. Hopefully it’ll get made.’

The cast

The cast are Jesse Metcalfe as John Tucker, Brittany Snow as Kate Spencer, Ashanti as Heather Montgomery, Sophia Bush as Beth McIntyre, Arielle Kebbel as Carrie Schaeffer, Penn Badgley as Scott Tucker, Fatso-Fasano as Tommy, Jenny McCarthy as Lori Spencer, Patricia Drake as Coach Williams, Taylor Kitsch as Justin, and Kevin McNulty as Basketball Coach.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,459

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