20th Century Fox | US | 102 mins
Jennifer’s Body comes from the Oscar winning mind of Diablo Cody, the writer behind the very good Juno and the highly enjoyable United States of Tara. This film features the same form of dialog — hipster lingo filled with pop culture references. It’s less successful this time around due to the scare-less gags, but there’s still fun to be had.
After a voodoo sacrifice event, the beautiful and condescending Jennifer (Megan Fox) becomes a man eating demon. She obtains this curse after being taken away to a voodoo sacrifice event after a blazing fire erupts at a crappy small town bar. From there on, she’s hungry for eating horny teen boys. While Jenifer continues to devour boys to feed her appetite, her BFF Needy (Amanda Seyfried) is hesitant and unsure about what to do. She’s lived under Jenifer’s gigantic shadow throughout her whole life and now she must kill her. After finally getting rid of this hesitation, she’s ready to stop Jennifer after she starts eyeing her dorky boyfriend Chip.
Structurally, the story is oddly messy, but moves quick. There’s a few plot points that aren’t fully expanded on. Needy’s relationship with her mother is a completely wasted subplot and the rules of Jennifer’s condition also aren’t fully explained. When she’s full and fed, is she back to normal and just aware of her curse/actions? Is she just partial demon during these moments? Does she enjoy this power? The film never explains.
To most people, Megan Fox has yet to prove herself as an actual good actress and the Transformer films certainly didn’t allow her to. Does this film prove that Fox is an a genuine talent to watch out for? Actually, yes. Fox is perfectly fine here and even quite good when delivering some of Cody’s good dialog — she’s especially fun during those moments. The scenes where she falters is the moments where she actually has to show dramatic range. She unfortunately comes off rather bland, and it is most notable in the sacrifice scene. Her performance, for the most part, is solid and she shows that she can be more than just eye candy, but hopefully she takes another step further with Jonah Hex.
The real star here is Amanda Seyfried. Her geeky awkwardness is purely likable, she’s easy to cheer for her. She handles the playful dialog well and even makes a compelling voiceover. Not hammy at all. The major highlights include J.K. Simmons and Adam Brody, while they both contains small roles, they’re still hilarious none the less.
Karyn Kusama, the director behind the incredibly lackluster Aeon Flux and the excellent Girlfight, brings along a lush and playful aesthetic. A few sequences are extremely well composed — especially a certain pool scene. Sequences along those lines is one of the reasons why Jennifer’s Body works better than most comedies we see today.
Unfortunately, Kusama fails to fully deliver in the horror department. She never takes full advantage of the R-rating, she uses a series of predictable shock cuts and heavily holds off on the gore. There’s no genuine scares and most of the scenes that are intended to cause fright fall completely flat. Unlike the film’s Jenifer’s Body is paying homage to, it feels heavily toned down and plays it safe. What’s there in the comedy department, though, makes for a strong teen comedy set in a so-so horror movie.