Jennifer's Body

I was trying to figure out how to start this. Typically I fill my opening paragraph with my expectations, or some kind of background information of the movie, but I don't really have any of that here. I think people think this is the kind of movie I am drawn to because of the hotness factor, as if I am shallow. Well, it makes sense, I love Into the Blue specifically because Jessica Alba spends the entire movie in a bikini, but this movie is different. It is written by Diablo Cody who has such a unique writing voice and I respect that. Sure, having Megan Fox in the movie does not hurt, but the movie had more going for it than just Megan Fox. I feel like I need to make that clear. Okay, now that I have, onto it.

Jennifer(Fox) and Needy(Amanda Seyfried) have been best friends since the day they met as children in the sandbox. Jennifer is hot and incredibly insecure and Needy is, well needy, and kow-tows to Jennifer's wishes. One night Jennifer and Needy go to a local bar to see a band because Jennifer wants to bang the lead singer. The band, fronted by Adam Brody are not what they appear and one song intot he concert the bar goes up in flames and most of the people in it die, luckily Jennifer and Needy escape, but Jennifer decides to go with the band in their van. Later that night, Jennifer shows up at Needy's house covered in blood, acting creepy and eventually vomiting up some kind of black tar stuff. The next day, though, Jennifer is acting normal, well, until she murders and eats parts of a higgh school football player. The band was trying to sacrifice a virgin to Satan in order to be as famous as Maroon 5, but Jennifer is no virgin, she is not even a backdoor virgin, according to her. So, the band got world famous, but a demon now inhabits Jennifer and she needs to feed on boys to keep up her strength. Needy realizes what is going on but cannot figure out how to stop her, without sounding crazy. Of course, it all comes to a head at the prom, featuring a live performance from Adam Brody's band.

Diablo Cody is always going to be kind of a mixed bag. Juno had a lot of great things in it, but it also had things that were too cute, quirky or precious, like the hamburger phone. Jennifer's Body does not have any quirky props, but some of the dialog, is, as is common for Cody, too cute, or nonsensical. I did not like the word "jealous" being turned into "jello" and then used like "you are so like lemon and lime jello." I did however, love the line "Tits are like smart bombs, point them in the right direction and shit gets real." So goes Diablo Cody's writing style. She is still looking for the perfect blend of cute and too cute.The first half hour of Jennifer's Body feature all the Diablo Cody infused dialog you would expect, so some of it is really funny and some of it just comes off and uninspired and awkward, especially out of Megan Fox's mouth. However, once the first half hour is done, the movie's dialog evens out for the most part. There are still moments of bad one-liners, especially during the climax, but overall I was not distracted by it.

Megan Fox playing a girl who uses her body to eat men, might be hitting something too on the nose, but it works. Fox is walking sex, she is a metaphorical man eater and then she becomes a literal man eater. Kudos to the casting department. Fox is clearly having fun vamping up, or playing totally into the fantasies guys have of her. She starts the movie in a cheerleading outfit; she skinny dips, talks about anal sex, and wears skimpy pink and yellow outfits. Fox is not the world's best actress, but she is perfect in this role. I am not sure anyone else would have been able to make this movie and been so beleivable as a girl who uses sex to get power. She handles the Codyisms pretty well, as soon as you realize it is not Juno. She also is not afraid to get dirty, spending a good amount of time covered in blood and puking out black tar and blood. Perhaps that does not seem like a big deal, but a girl who looks liek Megan Fox obviously does not ever half to be willing to look the least bit ugly.

Amanda Seyfried is probably the stand out though. She is not uglied up, as much as she is just made to be homely. Her eyes still sparkle, her curls are still adorable and she is still smart and pretty, just in an amish kind of way. She gets to be properly helpless and then bad ass, as the main girl ina horror movie is supposed to be. The movie is told from her point of view and we get the voice over narration that will probably be a staple of Diablo Cody scripted movies. She handles the dialog very well and interacts perfectly with both Fox and the guy playing her boyfriend. She is believable as a nerd, but also believable as a girl who has simply had enough.

Jennifer's Body was mismanaged from the marketing side, with the trailers making it out to be a straight horror film, but it is not. it is funny, campy and charming in many ways and the horror aspects are pretty minimal. There are three legitimatly horror movie scenes and they are effective, but they are not the main part of the film. I loved the scene with Needy and Jennifer when Jennifer first shows up with the blood. It mixes the humor, horror and gore the best and the climatic scene which somehow takes place in an abandoned pool house is also pretty effective in terms of a horror film. theere are no "jumps" in my opinion, but these scenes work as effective scenes in a horror movie.

It is clear Diablo Cody did not set out to write a straight up horror movie and she does not blend genres as smoothly as one might hope and some of it might be the director was unsure of how to handle the movie. I do not know why it doesn't always click, but I know that for the most part I was entertained. Much has been made of the girl-on-girl kiss and as mainstream girl-on-girl kisses go, it is hot. It is not so over the top, but it is not timid either and then it ends perfectly with Amanda Seyfried's character blurting out "What the fuck in happening!" which is exactly what the audience is thinking since it seems to just randomly appear. The kiss, I am sure, speaks to the complex nature of female friendships where the girls are not considered equals. Needy is thought of to be in love with Jennifer and Jennifer is known to just like sex, so them going for a little kissing does not seem entirely out of place in the movie, just in that scene, which may be the point.

Jennifer's Body satsifies on most levels. It is a nice vehicle to show off Megan Fox's sex appeal and shows she can carry a movie (even though at the box office, she did not). It is funny, clever and interesting, even if it is a bit too clever in parts. It offers some gore, some horror, two hot girls kissing and mostly it just entertains. The movie did not hit at the box office, but I would not be surprised if it finds an audeince somewhere down the line. It is meant to be a campy B style movie and I think people just were expecteding something else, which is too bad. I think they are missing out.

Final Grade: B