An admirer's secret crush on a high school athlete takes a fatal turn. Scott's mom apparently vanished into thin air, his father is neglectful and he was recently injured in mysterious circumstances and yet, he is the perfect guy: athletic, smart, and talented. His best friend, charming but posessive Lovable Alpha Bitch Jules, has taken notice. And she's not the only one. Though he soon spurns his friend's advances, to her great dismay, the new girl in town, Bess, starts following them and becomes jealous of their continuating friendship. Her parents are nowhere to be seen, her friends consist of a couple of nice employers who secretely fear her and an unhinged Stalker with a Crush who relishes in the spectacle of her obsessive nature and seems to hide a dark secret. Soon, terrible things begin happening around Scott.
Tropes present in Crush include:
- Academic Athlete: Scott.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Starts that way.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: For the most part, Bess acts rather apathetic towards Jeffrey. But when Scott punches him in the cafe, she immediately rushes to his aid and angrily screams at Scott to get out. Made better by the fact that this is one of the rare times when Bess raises her voice.
- Axe-Crazy: Andie.
- Beware the Nice Ones: On the surface, Scott is a shallow but likable guy and a Lovable Jock. Deep down, he's burning with anger, repressed artistic skills and a fear for commitment.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
- Break the Cutie: Oh, Scott.
- Chick Magnet: Scott starts off that way, but he is actually more of an unintentional Master of the Mixed Message.
- Creepy Good: Bess's admirer.
- Cute and Psycho: Bess, though she fits one part of this trope less and less as the movie goes by.
- Lovable Jock: Scott though his Stepford Smiler Control Freak Emotion Suppression routine ends up making him a Jerk Jock to Jeffrey, briefly.
- Love Makes You Crazy
- Mama Bear: You would think a Stalker with a Crush is necessarily incapable of empathy for her own Abhorrent Admirer. You would be wrong.
- Master of the Mixed Message: Part of what makes Bess's interest so understandable is that Scott keeps being a little too nice. He eventually gives the same feeling to Jules.
- Not Good with Rejection
- Not Quite Dead
- One-Word Title
- Removing the Rival
- Stalking Is Funny if It Is Female After Male: Averted.
- Stalker with a Crush: The plot of the film.
- Stepford Smiler: In a short scene near the end, Andie is revealed to be a type A, largely because she's a type C.
- Scott is clearly unwilling to show his own feelings and wants to focus on sports to forget his Missing Mom issues and go to university. He seems to be unwilling to accept that he is an artist as well.
- Yandere: Andie is obsessive and possessive. She kills off at least two people and attempts more than that.
