Despite its black-hearted title, "John Tucker Must Die" (20th Century Fox) is actually a lightweight comedy, though not a very good one.
Brittany Snow, who played bobbysoxer Meg Pryor on the NBC series "American Dreams," stars here as Kate, a teenager who has never been in one place long enough to make friends. In Kate's universe, there are only two things she can be sure of: Her single, luckless-at-love mom (Jenny McCarthy) brings home loser guys who skip out before breakfast, and shortly after that frequent occurrence they move to a new city.
Finding herself the new kid at yet another high school and desperate to fit in, she conspires with three popular girls -- aspiring TV reporter Carrie (Arielle Kebbel), head cheerleader Heather (Ashanti), and vegan Beth (Sophia Bush) -- to seek revenge against the girl-juggling jock (Jesse Metcalfe) of the title, after discovering that he'd been triple-timing them.
Initially, all they want to do is embarrass him, but when that backfires, the quartet comes up with something more devious: get John Tucker to fall in love with Kate, who will then let him down hard in a heartbreaking tit for tat.
Their plan hits a snafu when Kate's growing attraction for the campus Casanova and, eventually, her conscience, weaken her resolve.
The saucy turns by the scorned trio provide the routine script with some pop and, by the end, Metcalfe's surprisingly appealing performance manages to gain viewers' sympathy for the otherwise smarmy stud.
Though the overall tone is breezy, the humor has a spiteful edge.
Director Betty Thomas, however, undermines the film's basically positive -- if muddled -- message about honesty and personal integrity by introducing sexually charged innuendo and situations into the get-even scheme, as well as the aforementioned implied promiscuity of Kate's mom.
Unfortunately, those elements preclude recommendation to the film's obvious teen target, and we're afraid that "John Tucker Must Die" will be of little interest to older viewers.
The film contains some suggestive humor and sight gags, an uncritical view of premarital and teen sexual activity, and scattered crude language. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
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DiCerto is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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