Jennifer's Body (2009)

Jennifer's Body (2009)



DIRECTOR: Karyn Kusama
WRITER: Diablo Cody
CAST: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Adam Brody, Johnny Simmons, Kyle Gallner, J.K. Simmons, Amy Sedaris


Jennifer's Body is like a horror-infused take on the nasty '80s high-school satire Heathers. It's also rather similar to the Canadian cult classic Ginger Snaps. I'm not saying the movie overtly copies either of the older films; but you will definitely be reminded of both while watching it.

The story involves teen BFFs Needy (Amanda Seyfried) and Jennifer (Megan Fox). Jennifer is popular and promiscuous, where Needy is more the reserved, nerdy, insecure type. One night at an emo-rock show at a local dive, something terrible happens, and Jennifer is transformed into a blood-thirsty predator. Needy is torn between concern for her friend and fearing that she needs to be stopped (are you getting the Ginger Snaps similarities yet?).

I wanted to like this movie, but a couple things kept me from really being able to enjoy it.
Number One: Jennifer, as a character, is pretty unlikable. She's a shallow, conceited, and self-absorbed bitch....and this is before she becomes a monster! Because of this, it was hard for me to care about Needy's attempts to try to save her from her monstrous predicament. It doesn't help that Megan Fox, while obviously attractive, is rather flat as an actress. Her performance as Jennifer pretty much just alternates between "ditzy" and "bitchy".
Number Two: The script by Diablo Cody, of Juno fame, is a double-edged sword. While Cody's sharp teenage banter can be amusing and definitely elevates Jennifer's Body above a typical horror film (or even a typical high-school film), it also becomes a little grating after a while. The cutting banter is fun at first, and there are plenty of quotable lines here, but about 40 minutes into the movie, I was getting really tired of lines like "You need to totally move on dot org" and "You give me such a wetty".
Number Three: About two-thirds of the way into the movie, there is a 'plot twist' involving the douchey emo-rock band from the disaster at the beginning. I won't go into it, but suffice to say after this it's pretty hard to take the movie seriously from that point on. Although I will say Adam Brody is funny as the dickhead singer of the band.

So when all is said and done, Jennifer's Body isn't bad, but the aforementioned problems kept me from really liking it. Amanda Seyfried gives a good performance, and the movie's realistic presentation of it's teen characters was refreshing. Also, watch for small parts by J.K. Simmons (the dad in Juno; J. Jonah Jameson in the Spiderman movies), Amy Sedaris (Strangers With Candy) and genre vet Lance Henriksen.

Oh.  And they used the wrong Hole song during the end credits.