Jennifer’s Body Review
Jennifer’s Body
Directed by: Karyn Kusama
Written by: Diablo Cody
Starring: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Adam Brody, Johnny Simmons, J.K. Simmons, Amy Sedaris
When first-time screenwriter Diablo Cody won an Oscar a couple of years ago for the indie hit Juno, it immediately catapulted her to a level of fame that very few Hollywood writers ever reach. This attention also came with its fair share of backlash, as many people chose to look down on her very public previous career choice as a stripper, while others simply labeled Juno as overrated and too clever for its own good. Regardless, the movie had marked the arrival of a bold new voice in Hollywood, and one that wouldn’t likely be going away anytime soon.
After launching the successful Showtime series The United States of Tara (with the help of Steven Spielberg, no less), Cody went on to tackle her sophomore film, a horror-comedy hybrid called Jennifer’s Body. The movie was further thrust into the spotlight when Transformers sexpot Megan Fox signed on to play the lead role, ensuring that the film would have plenty of hype, both positive and negative. Even if Cody’s script could be twice as brilliant as her debut, there would still be naysayers looking to cut her down to size. Unfortunately, as it turns out, Jennifer’s Body is neither edgy nor divisive… it’s just plain mediocre.
The story is one for the ages: hot high school cheerleader Jennifer Check and her nerdy best friend Anita “Needy” Lesnicky attend a local rock show, when a freak fire breaks out at the bar. After a narrow escape, Jennifer ditches Needy to hang out with the band, despite the fact that something is not quite right with them. Later that night, Needy has a disturbing encounter with Jennifer, and when bodies of male classmates start turning up torn to shreds a few days later, she is pretty sure that Jennifer has something to do with it. The problem is, no one believes her… not even her boyfriend, Chip.
Jennifer’s Body is not the first movie to view the throes of adolescence through the lens of horror, but it does offer a slightly new spin on the concept. There are some juicy ideas here, similar to those explored in such movies as Carrie, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and yes, even Teen Wolf. Jennifer must literally consume men in order to maintain her social status, and a feminist revenge angle is omnipresent, yet most of this is never fully explored, as the film is much more interested in the relationship between Jennifer and Needy than any of the boys.
Horror fans will likely be disappointed, as aside from a couple of bloody kills and a few jump scares, there really isn’t much in the way of atmosphere or suspense. Director Karyn Kusama (Girlfight, Aeon Flux) lacks any sort of background in horror, and other than some Raimi-esque tracking shots early on, she doesn’t bring much to the table. Then again, the movie doesn’t call for much more than that, since it is more appropriately categorized as a dark comedy.
As seems to be the case with all of Diablo Cody’s work, our attention must eventually be drawn back to the writing — particularly the dialogue. If Cody’s inventive slang drove you nuts in Juno, it will continue to annoy you in Jennifer’s Body as well. This time around, instead of “homeskillet” and “honest to blog”, we get “you give me such a wettie” and “Where’s it at, Monistat?”. For every one-liner that is actually funny, there are two or three that are just trying too hard. Thankfully, for the most part the snide quips are limited to Megan Fox’s character, and her bitchy delivery seems rather appropriate. It doesn’t make it any less grating, but at least she is supposed to be unpleasant.
Amanda Seyfried’s earnest performance as Needy counterbalances Jennifer’s crass attitude, and is probably the best part of the movie — well, aside from J.K. Simmons, who shows up as overly sensitive teacher Mr. Wroblewski. Adam Brody plays slightly against type as the douchebag leader of the band Low Shoulder, and is frighteningly committed to his ultra-serious on-stage persona.
The problem with Jennifer’s Body is that it wants to be a dark and satirical commentary on high school, but it also wants to remain easy for its teenage demographic to swallow. On the one hand, it wants to poke fun at pretentious indie bands, and yet at the same time, the soundtrack is filled with them. It wants to shoot down the idea of women being sex objects, and then it gives us a gratuitous lesbian make-out scene between Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried, just for the heck of it. The movie never finds its footing and just ends up feeling like Carrie for the Twilight crowd… and really, who wants to see that?
With a little more focus and a steadier tone, Jennifer’s Body could have been something memorable. A lot of the right elements are there, but the movie gets caught up in being cute and fails to give any sense of urgency or truly biting humour. A shrug of the shoulders is about all it earns from me, although I suppose it is the kind of movie that may eventually develop a cult following on DVD. As it is, personally I think I’d rather just watch Species or Teen Wolf instead. — Sean
SCORE: 
Recommended If You Like: Juno, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Carrie
Comments (22)
Megan Fox is overrated…
Posted by Chris on September 18th, 2009“then it gives us a gratuitous lesbian make-out scene between Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried” — SOLD, GOING RIGHT NOW TO SEE, ACADEMY AWARD
Posted by rus in chicago on September 18th, 2009Whatever you said Sean was pretty much what I was expecting from this movie.
Posted by modesilver on September 18th, 2009I’m with rus in chicago, that one sentence is all i needed to be convinced to see it. LOL
Posted by Ben on September 18th, 2009this is a deffinate rent and jerk. thanks for the FYI. Do you know exactly what time in the moive this takes place lol jk
in all seriousness though, i am going to rent this.
Posted by Rick on September 18th, 2009I’m gonna agree with @Chris who said that Megan Fox is way overrated
Posted by Andrew | TrailerUnleashed.com on September 18th, 2009“rent and jerk” – if you use Netflix would it be “queue and lube”?
Posted by rus in chicago on September 18th, 2009http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSymGHqbZhA
Posted by leaflinks on September 18th, 2009Megan Fox tribute
or if you have dish it would be pay per jack hahahahah
Posted by Rick on September 18th, 2009I’m sure the Maxim/FHM crowd would much rather pay to see Megan Fox in a 2 hour porno but I guess this will have to do until her career flounders and she decides to bare it all.
Posted by Marc on September 18th, 2009If this make’s more than 10 million in it’s first weekend i’ll be shocked.
Posted by jaime on September 18th, 2009I won;t see this in theatres…
I’ll just ‘download and load’ !!
BADUM!!
Posted by Insomniac Dan on September 20th, 2009The trailer seems more semi dark comedy than anything close to horror. I dunno, me thinks they (the studios) are capitalizing on the babe factor.
As I’ve hinted in the past, you can tell how good a movie is by the trailer. Especially if you see the movie and end up feeling jilted by a misleading trailer (which is usually the case).
Posted by Tommy on September 20th, 2009If you’re not going to this movie looking to see a good horror film, I say you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Saw this movie last night and wasn’t expecting much from it, truthfully. However, I really do think that the Diablo Cody wit thrown into a semi-decent vampire/demon flick turns out a good movie over all. If you don’t like Diablo Cody’s writing, you won’t like this movie, but as someone who genuinely adores that sort of witty language, I enjoyed picking up all the short quips within a movie of a quite different ambiance. I described it to my family as combining Juno and Saw in some respects. And though it sounds like it shouldn’t work, somehow I think it did. It’s certainly not a movie for everyone in American audiences, but I’m sure it will find a strong following of fans soon enough.
Posted by Jenna on September 20th, 2009megan fox is not over rated so shut up
Posted by irene k on September 20th, 2009if i were to fuck a girl it would be her.
Opening weekend $6.8 million.
Posted by jaime on September 20th, 2009“megan fox is not over rated so shut up
if i were to fuck a girl it would be her.
Posted by irene k”
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finally something worth watching.
Posted by Rick on September 21st, 2009I saw this movie tonight, probably the only person there who didn’t want to see it. I was surprised at the comedy aspect, it wasnt horror. I came in with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised! I thought this movie was pretty clever and very entertaining, even for girls, and those that hate horror movies at that. Worth a watch if you like quirky humour.
Posted by Laura on September 21st, 2009I saw Jennifer’s Body Sunday night and I was disappointed. The film starts out well (”I’m a Kicker”) and then crashes. Three interesting scenes do not a great or even a good horror film make. The film actually ended up being worse than Friday the 13th (2009), a decidedly horrific accomplishment.
Megan Fox DURING HER HIGH SCHOOL YEARS (3rd Link)
http://film-book.com/links-sci-fi-films-you-need-to-see/
Megan Fox CLEAVAGE at a Lakers Game (2nd Link)
http://film-book.com/a-helping-hand/
Megan Fox GQ MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2008
http://film-book.com/megan-fox-in-gq-magazine-october-2008/
Megan Fox MOTIVATIONAL POSTER
Posted by Film-Book dot Com on September 22nd, 2009http://www.flickr.com/photos/30693123@N04/3351567848/
the movie itself wont win any awards but the kiss between both girls, will win the MTV movie awards best kiss award. Pretty hot
Posted by WIGirlsKissing on October 8th, 2009Wtf? ever see jennifer’s body? what you have? pervert lol
Posted by Cock Juggle on October 15th, 2009Well, i saw the movie last night and i wasn’t a complete flop but a bit cheesy, altogether it was ok. Decent leso scene
Posted by ibn la ahad on November 8th, 2009Leave a Reply