Jennifer’s Body reviewed
Jennifer’s Body is a pleasant surprise. The film is certainly nothing special and for the large part is pretty predictable. However, as far as blending horror and comedy goes, this 2009 film accomplishes it far more successfully, and is therefore more accessible to casual moviegoers (i.e. non horror fans), than the goofy Drag Me to Hell earlier this year.
To be fair though, Jennifer’s Body is far stronger when viewed as a dark high school comedy than a conventional horror film – because it’s honestly not that scary or gory. Directed by Girlfight’s Karyn Kusama and scripted by Juno’s Academy Award winning Diablo Cody, Jennifer’s Body is highly girl-centric.
Frequently touching on issues of female friendship and the confidence problems plaguing teenage girls – whether popular or socially sidelined – the movie centres on lifelong BFFs (Best Friends Forever), Jennifer (Megan Fox), a sultry and slightly slutty cheerleader, and dorky Needy (Amanda Seyfried), who cares for Jennifer deeply but lacks the self-assurance to step out from her shadow.
Violent events are set in place when indie rock band Low Shoulder visit the small town where the girls live, and perform a Satanic ritual that forces a demon into Jennifer. Her memory and bitchy behaviour, surprisingly, unchanged, Jennifer must now feed regularly on human flesh. Her chosen prey is her male classmates – whether they be jock, goth or geek – much to the horror of Needy, who must stop her best friend.
Admittedly it all sounds kind of cheesy. And the plot is, largely. However, the film’s strength is not its story. Rather its strengths lie in its strong characterisations (typically absent in horror films), likeable performances and witty dialogue.
Most of the humour in Jennifer’s Body in fact stems from its dialogue. You can obviously google the film’s funniest lines, but the following exchange stood out as one of my favourites, in the film and in terms of Best Movie Quotes of 2009:
Needy Lesnicky: I don't even know how that rumour started.
Girl In Class: Rumour? It's not a rumour. It's true. It's on The Wikipedia.
Also amusing are the scenes with indie rockers Low Shoulder. The filmmakers seem to be poking fun at the lengths to which ambitious entrants to the entertainment industry will go to achieve success. Here the band members pay tribute to Satan with human sacrifice so they can become the next Maroon 5.
Of course, I haven’t yet answered the question Megan Fox’s many male fans will be asking, and that’s whether or not their favourite leading lady is naked in the film? The answer is no, not really. There are no nipples in sight, but there is plenty of cleavage and midriff on display, as well as a slo-mo overhead shot as Fox swims nude in a lake. Jennifer does however “lezz out” with Needy in one scene and this moment, which sees friendship morphing into sexual curiosity, is played for all the eroticism it’s worth. This said, for all the times Jennifer’s Body showcases Megan Fox’s physical assets, the film also ensures she looks appropriately repulsive at times – her mouth transforms into a gaping, sharp-toothed maw and she vomits black goo.
Although Fox doesn’t have to stretch much in terms of her acting, she does get many of the film’s best lines and certainly seems to have fun toying with her established screen persona. She even gets to show a few glimpses of insecurity beneath the sexiness. Amanda Seyfried, meanwhile, who stole the show in last year’s Mamma Mia!, is once again outstanding here as the film’s emotional heart. And Johnny Simmons makes for a very cute male lead.
The only major drawback of Jennifer’s Body is its clumsy and rather abrupt conclusion as, inevitably with this kind of thing, the film slips into straight horror mode. The movie becomes substantially less satisfying when it does this. Still though, while Jennifer’s Body obviously won’t be to everyone’s taste, I had a good time watching the film as a whole. Its witty dialogue and dollop of thematic substance are combined with a great soundtrack and several on-screen nods to cult horror classics (Evil Dead and Carrie being the most obvious), making Jennifer’s Body a guilty little treat.
To be fair though, Jennifer’s Body is far stronger when viewed as a dark high school comedy than a conventional horror film – because it’s honestly not that scary or gory. Directed by Girlfight’s Karyn Kusama and scripted by Juno’s Academy Award winning Diablo Cody, Jennifer’s Body is highly girl-centric.
Frequently touching on issues of female friendship and the confidence problems plaguing teenage girls – whether popular or socially sidelined – the movie centres on lifelong BFFs (Best Friends Forever), Jennifer (Megan Fox), a sultry and slightly slutty cheerleader, and dorky Needy (Amanda Seyfried), who cares for Jennifer deeply but lacks the self-assurance to step out from her shadow.
Violent events are set in place when indie rock band Low Shoulder visit the small town where the girls live, and perform a Satanic ritual that forces a demon into Jennifer. Her memory and bitchy behaviour, surprisingly, unchanged, Jennifer must now feed regularly on human flesh. Her chosen prey is her male classmates – whether they be jock, goth or geek – much to the horror of Needy, who must stop her best friend.
Admittedly it all sounds kind of cheesy. And the plot is, largely. However, the film’s strength is not its story. Rather its strengths lie in its strong characterisations (typically absent in horror films), likeable performances and witty dialogue.
Most of the humour in Jennifer’s Body in fact stems from its dialogue. You can obviously google the film’s funniest lines, but the following exchange stood out as one of my favourites, in the film and in terms of Best Movie Quotes of 2009:
Needy Lesnicky: I don't even know how that rumour started.
Girl In Class: Rumour? It's not a rumour. It's true. It's on The Wikipedia.
Also amusing are the scenes with indie rockers Low Shoulder. The filmmakers seem to be poking fun at the lengths to which ambitious entrants to the entertainment industry will go to achieve success. Here the band members pay tribute to Satan with human sacrifice so they can become the next Maroon 5.
Of course, I haven’t yet answered the question Megan Fox’s many male fans will be asking, and that’s whether or not their favourite leading lady is naked in the film? The answer is no, not really. There are no nipples in sight, but there is plenty of cleavage and midriff on display, as well as a slo-mo overhead shot as Fox swims nude in a lake. Jennifer does however “lezz out” with Needy in one scene and this moment, which sees friendship morphing into sexual curiosity, is played for all the eroticism it’s worth. This said, for all the times Jennifer’s Body showcases Megan Fox’s physical assets, the film also ensures she looks appropriately repulsive at times – her mouth transforms into a gaping, sharp-toothed maw and she vomits black goo.
Although Fox doesn’t have to stretch much in terms of her acting, she does get many of the film’s best lines and certainly seems to have fun toying with her established screen persona. She even gets to show a few glimpses of insecurity beneath the sexiness. Amanda Seyfried, meanwhile, who stole the show in last year’s Mamma Mia!, is once again outstanding here as the film’s emotional heart. And Johnny Simmons makes for a very cute male lead.
The only major drawback of Jennifer’s Body is its clumsy and rather abrupt conclusion as, inevitably with this kind of thing, the film slips into straight horror mode. The movie becomes substantially less satisfying when it does this. Still though, while Jennifer’s Body obviously won’t be to everyone’s taste, I had a good time watching the film as a whole. Its witty dialogue and dollop of thematic substance are combined with a great soundtrack and several on-screen nods to cult horror classics (Evil Dead and Carrie being the most obvious), making Jennifer’s Body a guilty little treat.
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