That Jenny McCarthy turns in a respectable performance as a (fortysomething?) mother in "John Tucker Must Die" must say something about the movie.

In fact, it probably says something about American society. And while one would be at a loss to say precisely what that is, it must be, much like the movie, bad.

		John Tucker Must Die Starring: Jesse Metcalfe, Brittany Snow, Ashanti and Sophia Bush. Rating: PG-13 for sexual content and language. Director: Betty Thomas. Family Film Guide Web site: http://www.myspace.com/ johntucker

If you attended high school in the past 25 years, the story will strike you as plausible enough: The three hottest girls from dominant cliques discover that each has been led to believe she is exclusively dating king-of-the-school John Tucker, when, in fact, he's dating all of them.

They elect to exact revenge. Thus, "John Tucker Must Die."

Not literally, of course, but in the way teenagers mean these things. So the three women -- a vegan (Sophia Bush), the captain of the cheerleaders (Ashanti) and go-getting overachiever (Arielle Kebbel) -- recruit a less popular blonde (Brittany Snow) to train in the subtle art of heart-breaking.

What makes this a failed comedy rather than a satire is Jesse Metcalfe, who as the titular Tucker can't muster a believable characterization of this believable character (albeit, given absolutely horrible lines). Not that his best-known role -- Eva Longoria's lover on "Desperate Housewives" -- gave indications that he didn't have room to grow as an actor.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Bush's portrayal of the self-conscious, yet proudly sexually free, Beth seems entirely tongue-in-cheek. It's as if Bush, all power on "One Tree Hill" and professionalism in "Supercross," can't believe she landed in this movie.

"John Tucker" is not entirely without promise or payoff, but it is very nearly. McCarthy has a half-dozen lines, but when called upon to be earnest, as in a heartfelt speech to her daughter, she acquits herself well.

There are also aspects of high school culture that ring true. Everyone has a cell phone. The kids are privately sexually active and publicly in denial. There's a recurring sight-gag of cutting to the Goth kids, who face every game or party with the same disaffected blank stares, in white makeup and black everything else.

But from almost every angle -- the ludicrous use of off-camera trampolines for dunks in basketball games and lines such as "This is for every guy who has lied to any girl!" -- this movie manages to be offensive to the intelligence of any teen.