Jennifer's Body (2009)
Grade:B+
I honestly believe that if I hadn’t liked this film, my thoughts would’ve looked something like this:
Megan Fox sure is pretty, but she unfortunately can’t act to save her life, and she isn’t up to the challenge of anchoring Jennifer’s Body.
Here’s hoping Diablo Cody doesn’t prove herself a one-hit wonder and can redeem the tangled mess of a screenplay here, a real disappointment after her Oscar-winning work with Juno.
Director Karyn Kusama needs a hit after the one-two punch of failures Aeon Flux and now Jennifer’s Body, two films that sorely need stronger direction.
Harsh, but focused on what the problems are, yes? What I don’t think it would like is what the majority of negative reviews for the film have looked like:
Megan Fox, Diablo Cody, and Karyn Kusama are idiots and I can’t believe they made such a fucking ridiculous and stupid film. God, I hate Megan Fox and Diablo Cody.
Honestly, the vitriol that critics have launched at this film is so unbelievably unwarranted that I’m sort of at a loss where to start in defending it. This difficulty is compounded by the fact that the film isn’t a great one, but it’s certainly good, and it’s definitely flat-out hilarious and entertaining.
I find it telling that a lot of critics and commenters have mislabeled Megan Fox’s character a cheerleader in the film, and to a certain degree, mislabeled Amanda Seyfried’s character a geek. The eponymous Jennifer is captain of the flag team, and though she looks great in her uniform, tossing a flag around in slow motion, the last time I checked, the flag team was closer to the “lame” end of the spectrum. Also: if Jennifer is so popular, why is her only friend the mousy Needy (Seyfried)? Boys are of course drawn to the beautiful Jennifer, but she’s never portrayed in a Most Popular Girl in School light, just Most Beautiful Girl in School light. And Needy, for that matter, is in a committed relationship, and comes across more as charmingly unaware of her own beauty as opposed to a more stereotypical geek type.
What this all points to, I think, is that Cody’s screenplay is much smarter than it has received credit for. I think most of the critical establishment has glossed over the subtleties in the screenplay and this is evidenced in assuming that Megan Fox plays a cheerleader and Amanda Seyfried plays a dork. They don’t, and it all leads me to think that people simply have it out for Megan Fox and Diablo Cody (and poor Karyn Kusama, having to follow up her widely-ridiculed Aeon Flux, is along on the hate-spewing ride, unfortunately).
Jennifer’s Body is by no means a great film. What it is, though, is a hilarious film, and an entertaining one. Diablo Cody’s tale of a toxic co-dependent teenage girl relationship complicated when one of them turns into a demon and must feast on boys to stay alive is full of her trademark hipster-chic bon mots that made Juno nearly insufferable. What’s interesting here is that the style is the same, but when transplanted on insufferable characters, like Fox’s Jennifer, the dialogue finally clicks in a realistic way with the character. When Juno fired off rapid one-liners, it was overly twee, but when Jennifer fires them off, it’s in character. It’s a nice development to witness in Cody as a writer. Pairing this with what I hear is a more downplayed style on The United States of Tara, her Showtime program, I think we’re seeing Cody prove that the Oscar wasn’t just because Juno was such a zetigeist phenomenon.
Then there’s Megan Fox, who is in a similar position as Cody in that this film serves as a way for her to “prove herself.” With Cody, she was demonstrating her continued writing prowess, and with Fox, this was her opportunity to headline a film and to carry a substantial dramatic load as lead actress. Beyond the Transformers films, she’s has little else on her résumé and this is by far her biggest acting challenge to date. And she succeeds with flying colors. Granted, I’ve always welcomed the opportunity for Fox to have an outlet to prove whether or not she can act – you know, beyond running around with Shia LaBeouf and screaming at green screens. Here, she’s given a complex role, having to fire off the dialogue in a believable way and convincingly make the transition from Queen Bitch to Demon Bitch and she does all quite well. Cody’s dialogue is a match to Fox’s comedic timing, and the more dramatic moments are all handled effectively. Seyfried has a lesser part to play, but she does so pretty well, and the supporting players are all fine.
Where Cody’s screenplay sags is in the structure, which is odd because Juno was a textbook example of solid screenwriting structure. Here, there are elements thrown in that add to the loopiness of the storyline (such as the gathering of woodland creatures before Jennifer makes her first kill), but not in a purposeful way, I think. Also, Cody is simply better with comedy than she is with horror and it shows when the film veers into moments played for straight scares.
Like I said: not a perfect film by any means. Cody’s hand with one-liners, though, is unmatched. Because she not only can write out-of-left-field one-liners but has the balls to put them into a final draft. I don’t think any other writer would write, for example, Jennifer’s final line in the film or her retort after getting stabbed in a climactic scene. She’s a unique voice in screenwriting and in its best moments, Jennifer’s Body showcases her talents extremely well. It seems that like Jennifer, the critical establishment is out for blood, though, and Megan Fox and Diablo Cody are their targets. It’s a shame, because they’re stopping an engaging and entertaining film from reaching a broader audience who would enjoy it.
Bottom Line:
The critical establishment is out to get Megan Fox and Diablo Cody, which is a shame, because Jennifer’s Body, though uneven and far from perfect, is a perfectly enjoyable and hilarious horror/comedy hybrid. Emphasis on comedy, though, regardless of what the advertising would lead you to believe.
© 2004-2009 Ben Waldorf. Posted September 21, 2009. IMDB
There wasn’t much more I could say on the Pajiba thread about the movie. I did, though, want to tell you that I really liked your distinction between a trope and a cliche—or, at least, how they’re used. If you don’t mind, I’ll borrow it from you.
— Mike B. Sep 22, 04:52 AM #