Courtney Shayne (Rose McGowan), Marcie 'Foxxie' Fox (Julie Benz), Liz Purr (Charlotte Ayanna) and Julie Freeman (Rebecca Gayheart) are the Four Tops, the prettiest and most popular girls at Reagan High School.
Three of this four kidnap Liz as a birthday prank. They shove a gobstopper (or jawbreaker, as it is known in the US) into her mouth and stow her in the boot of a car. However, when they reach the place where everything will be revealed, they find out that she is dead on arrival.
When Fern 'Mayonnaise' Mayo (Judy Greer) stumbles in on the trio's attempts to cover their tracks, they are forced to compromise. In return for her silence, Courtney promises to put Fern on the same pedestal of popularity enjoyed by the other three. But when Julie feels the need to confess, the unholy alliance starts to disintegrate.
Julie is ostracised from the group, teaming up instead with drama club outsider Zach Tartak (Chad Christ). Fern isn't happy either, so she ends up with the rival clique. As the battle for the truth rages, the end of year prom draws ever closer.
Director Darren Stein grew up in the San Fernando Valley watching movies such as Heathers and Grease, dominated by teen aspirations and back-stabbing.
To him, the idea of the jawbreaker sweet, a sugary confection to eat for pleasure which also had a name conjuring medieval torture, encapsulated this type of girl: sunny, bright and dressy, but dripping with suppressed malice.
Jawbreaker is a Film programme that first aired in 1999 and has been classified a 15 certificate.
