Jennifer's Body

(2009)

Directed by

Karyn Kusama

Review by Todd Plucknett

Posted - 9/20/09

Karyn Kusama’s third feature film Jennifer’s Body is a wildly uneven, occasionally hilarious, and overall just over-the-top horror flick written by Oscar-winner Diablo Cody. Going into the film, based on the insane trailer and ludicrous storyline, it is hard to not expect a bad film. I got more or less what I was expecting: a consistently fun genre movie that is certain to establish a cult status in the years to come.

The movie centers on Jennifer Check (Megan Fox), a bombshell high school cheerleader who, following a life-changing and earth-shattering night at a bar, becomes demon-possessed into a vampire of sorts who preys on males to self-preserve. Her ever-supportive nerdy friend Needy Lesnicky (Amanda Seyfried) tries to get to the bottom of her lifelong best friend’s situation, while trying to protect her boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons) from Jennifer’s wrath. This sets the premise for this crazy movie that is a total at-the-moment thrill, but it will fade into the background not long later with some of its disappointingly predictable plot twists and conventional genre conclusions.

This film starts off so strong. The first scene was completely haunting and unexpected. The following few scenes are fairly typical, but acceptable for establishing character details and relationships. Then, the movie starts to unravel after the epic burning down of a bar. There are quite a few images that will undoubtedly stick in the head of the audience, but the conventional and sometimes stupid plot points will wear on its patience. The actors are in semi-good form here. Megan Fox is perfect for her role as the mysterious hottie cheerleader. She hasn’t really developed a dramatic touch yet, but she definitely showed some promise. The star of the film (and the main reason to see it) is Amanda Seyfried. She has really come into her own as an actress with this film, the hilarious Mean Girls, the underrated Nine Lives, the box-office smash Mama Mia, and the brilliant Alpha Dog. She has dramatic talent, and she can slide into just about any role, as proven by her varied filmography. J.K. Simmons is always good to see, and Amy Sedaris is great in her smaller role. Johnny Simmons had his moments as well.

The real trademark of this film, and one of the many shortcomings, is the fact that it is written by Diablo Cody. Her slick hipster dialogue is something that marks her work, but in her brilliant Oscar-winning screenplay Juno, those lines were acceptable. This was mainly because the characters were already quirky, and it was believable that those characters actually spoke like that. Megan Fox, on the other hand, just sort of phones it in on those snappy one-liners. Her lines were just too forced. In Needy, however, Cody has found her niche character. In Juno, her main characters were this kind of geeky teenager. Those are the most believable and engaging characters she conveys. If only the film focused a bit more exclusively on Needy, then it could have been great.

Karyn Kusama is an interesting filmmaker. Her fist feature was Girlfight, an indie boxing film that was one of the best of 2000. Her second was the consensus failure Aeon Flux. Now, she makes this quirky comedy-horror film. She definitely has talent; she proved that with Girlfight. Some of that talent comes out here in some of the quieter, less blood-soaked scenes. The scenes of brutal violence are handled with unnecessary brevity and typicality. Her quieter scenes are almost sweet and, at times, quite intense. There is only so much she can do with Cody’s forced screenplay, however. Some of the scenes are totally ruined with awful lines that even rival GI Joe’s lines for the worst of the year honors. Kusama should stick to her indie spirit and make another personal film. She has the talent to be a future nominee in my opinion.

The only thing recently that I can compare this inconsistent film to is Teeth. It is about even in quality and story/screenplay. Both have serious problems, but both also have their defining and haunting moments.  Neither are a necessarily good take on the genre, but they both do thrill their target audience. One other issue I had with Jennifer’s Body is that it attempted to be this generation’s Carrie. Maybe it is, but there were some scenes such as the throwback prom scene and burning bar scene that totally looked like scenes from a film posing as Brian De Palma’s classic horror flick. None of those scenes worked quite as well, though.

So, needless to say, Jennifer’s Body is a mixed bag. It is entertaining almost throughout if you don’t use your brain too much. There were moments sitting there where I was just thinking that the movie was so bad, but I was curious enough to keep watching, if for no other reason than to lock my eyes on Megan Fox but pay attention to Amanda Seyfried. Everyone involved in this film does have talent, and with a more polished and natural horror screenplay, it could have been a cult classic of sorts. Instead, it is just a bad movie with high entertainment value. See it if you want. It’s your call.

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