John Tucker Must Die
Jan. 11th, 2010 07:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroFollowing the last session of my first Winter Intensive course, I decided to watch a dopey movie to relax. I was pleasantly surprised by John Tucker Must Die. It was really funny, actually. I was reminded of most of the Freddie Prinze Jr. movies, teen comedies that kept the gross-out humor to the minimum and actually paid some attention to the characters. The side characters and background activity are fantastic, if you're watching for it (pretty much everything that Tucker's heavyset black friend does is worth watching for, not to mention people in the background of the hallway scenes).
Granted, there are the requisite bits to be annoyed at. Feeding someone estogen Does Not Work That Way, there was the totally gratuitous lesbian kiss and lingerie-posing scenes, and a scene at the end with some thongs, but overall, it was better than I've come to expect from the genre.
In one notable bit, Tucker's brother refers to himself as not being handsome and built. Now, the actor wasn't even being made "Hollywood ugly" here, he's a good looking guy with a bit of a counter-cultural vibe going on, and my first impulse was be annoyed. Then I realize that his brother is an ubermench--captain and star of the basketball team, obviously really sharp and astoundingly charismatic, can get any woman he wants--and he grew up in his shadow. Of course he wouldn't have a realistic idea of how good-looking he is.
Also, he gets some lines that would have sounded right coming out of Xander Harris' mouth, so you gotta respect that.
The three women who make up the primary supporting cast are stereotypes, but they're intelligent for stereotypes (if blinded by the fact that John Tucker Must Die) and the actresses take the roles and run with them. It's fairly delightful to watch, really.
The ending tries to have a moral, and actually handles the outcome of that reasonably well. It's not an 80s after-school special, and most characters only kinda learn the errors of their ways. Which works for me.
Granted, there are the requisite bits to be annoyed at. Feeding someone estogen Does Not Work That Way, there was the totally gratuitous lesbian kiss and lingerie-posing scenes, and a scene at the end with some thongs, but overall, it was better than I've come to expect from the genre.
In one notable bit, Tucker's brother refers to himself as not being handsome and built. Now, the actor wasn't even being made "Hollywood ugly" here, he's a good looking guy with a bit of a counter-cultural vibe going on, and my first impulse was be annoyed. Then I realize that his brother is an ubermench--captain and star of the basketball team, obviously really sharp and astoundingly charismatic, can get any woman he wants--and he grew up in his shadow. Of course he wouldn't have a realistic idea of how good-looking he is.
Also, he gets some lines that would have sounded right coming out of Xander Harris' mouth, so you gotta respect that.
The three women who make up the primary supporting cast are stereotypes, but they're intelligent for stereotypes (if blinded by the fact that John Tucker Must Die) and the actresses take the roles and run with them. It's fairly delightful to watch, really.
The ending tries to have a moral, and actually handles the outcome of that reasonably well. It's not an 80s after-school special, and most characters only kinda learn the errors of their ways. Which works for me.
