YouTube Movie Reviews: John Tucker Must Die (2006)

This will be more of an analysis than a review. If you are interested in watching “John Tucker Must Die,” it is free on YouTube with ads. You can watch it on Amazon Prime with a subscription if you don’t want any ads. I have to say this movie still holds up. I recommend this movie to anyone, it is a solid comedy with a shady plot. The acting is solid and the soundtrack is phenomenal. I recommend this movie for the soundtrack alone. The plot is a bit problematic, but you can overlook its immorality. This isn’t a movie that should be taken seriously

That said, I am going to take this movie a little seriously. I have to respect this movie for addressing some serious themes, and it does well. The main focus of this movie is to tear down John Tucker, but there are moments in this movie that show that the kids aren’t okay. There is a lot of pressure from society that dictates how everyone should act. John, for example, is the stereotypical alpha jock. He is the best at basketball, he is popular, and he is a player. But that isn’t all John wants to be. Throughout his fake relationship with Kate, he will act out and try his hardest to win her over. Part of that is because it is expected of him, but the other part is because he believes he finds something in Kate that is outside of what is normal. With her, he doesn’t have the pressure he has with the rest of the school and he spends the whole movie accepting this fact. There are scenes in this movie where he is shown breaking down this persona he has created, and those moments give his character a level of complexity that I did not expect. Of course, any development that his character makes is thrown out by the end of the movie, but I don’t think John was ever supposed to be a sympathetic character.

Kate on the other hand has the opposite problem. She is invisible and longs to be noticed and have friends. She doesn’t feel the pressures of society because society doesn’t notice her. When she starts being part of a group and starts to get noticed, she finds that she begins to act in ways that go against her character. There are moments in this movie where she questions the morality of the plot, but she will overlook it because she likes fitting in for once. This movie does a pretty good job of showing how the desire to fit in changes people. These are issues that plagued our adolescence, a period in our lives where we were just trying to fit in and find out who we are as people. Maybe that is why this movie still holds up because these are issues that people still deal with.

This movie isn’t as deep as I make it out to be. It is silly, fun, and worth your time. There are worse ways to spend two hours. Best of all, it is free!