JENNIFER’S BODY
FOX
RELEASED 4 November 2009
After hitting the big time with her sharp, cool script for ‘Juno’ (which won her the Oscar for best original screenplay), Diablo Cody was always going to be under intense pressure to prove she’s not a one-trick pony. ‘Juno’ starred Ellen Page in a career-boosting role, and ‘Jennifer’s Body’ stars two more talented young Hollywood actresses in Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried. As actreses go, Cody’s words couldn’t be in better hands.
Anita ‘Needy’ Lesnicky (Seyfried) is a ‘plain Jane’, all long strawberry blonde hair, thick-rimmed round glasses, and sensible clothes. Her best friend since childhood (‘sandbox love never dies’, as Seyfried narrates) is Jennifer Check (Fox), the high school hottie and captain of the cheerleading squad. Sexually active with a number of boys (and men), Jennifer seems to play a strange game of supporting ‘Needy’ while taking advantage whenever she feels like it. Jennifer convinces ‘Needy’ to accompany her to the local nightclub where a hot new band called ‘Low Shoulder’ are playing. Jennifer just wants to hook up with the lead singer, and even when ‘Needy’ overhears him talking lewdly and warns her friend, Jennifer doesn’t care. Mysteriously, a fire breaks out as the band are playing, and as the two girls escape through a window, many others stumble out of the building on fire. The unscathed band pull up in their van and Jennifer eagerly jumps in, much to ‘Needy’s astonishment.
Unfortunately for Jennifer, the band Low Shoulder are so desperate to make it big, they’ve decided to take her into the middle of the woods, next to the famous Devils’ Kettle waterfall (based on the the real-life waterfall in Minnesota's Judge Magney State Park) and offer Jennifer to the Devil in exchange for fame. As the lead singer prepares to make a virgin sacrifice out of Jennifer, he explains, ‘You know how hard it is to make it as an indie band these days? There are so many of us and we’re all so cute, and it’s like if you don’t get on Letterman or some retarded soundtrack, you’re screwed. Okay? Satan is our only hope.’
Later in the night, it becomes clear the demonic sacrifice hasn’t quite gone to plan and Jennifer is now not just the hottest girl on campus, she’s also, quite literally, become a man-eater!
On a positive note, both actresses are great fun. Amanda Seyfried has built an impressive reputation with her role on the US television series ‘Big Love’, and a starring role in ‘Mamma Mia’, and her forgiving character displays hidden strengths to dispel the ‘needy’ nickname. Megan Fox, voted sexiest movie star of 2009 by leading film magazine Empire’s readers, is the biggest surprise. Fox is funny, nasty, and downright scary as the demonic cheerleader. Those ‘Transformers’ movies treat Fox as nothing more than eye candy, so it’s great to see her really have fun and give a meaty, agressive performance here. Considering how young she is, if she chooses more quality roles like this, she can go on to be even bigger. Just for those fans of Megan’s ‘body’, you’ll be relieved to know she does flounce around in some small ‘nothings’ (cleavage alert, tiny panties, and swimming naked).
It’s certainly not a ‘retarded’ soundtrack either, featuring the likes of Florence and The Machine, Panic At The Disco, Little Boots, Black Kids, and White Lies.
Sadly, aside from the acting and the music, the rest of the film underperforms. Most notable is Diablo Cody’s story and script. The story builds slowly and stutteringly to a weak conclusion, and the script didn’t make me laugh once. There are a few cute witticisms, but nothing that comes near the quality of ‘Juno’. It actually feels like poor imitation from Cody. And aside from Fox and Seyfried, the rest of the cast are forgettable.
The pedestrian directing from Karyn Kusama (whose only good movie remains 2000’s ‘Girlfight’) is also worth pointing out. Horror movies offer a director to have some real fun with the camera, whether it be for the jumps or the bloody action sequences, but Kusama seems to have had zero interest in attempting either. Even a potentially iconic scene featuring Megan Fox emerging naked from a lake is rendered dull.
‘Jennifer’s Body’ succeeds as neither a horror film nor a comedy. If it weren’t for the world’s sexiest actress and the hottest female scriptwriter, this movie would garner very little attention.
TWO OUT OF FIVE