In 2006 stripper-turned-screenwriter Diablo Cody wrote two films, Juno and Jennifer’s Body. One of these films is funny, original, and has received all sorts of praise, the other is barely another stone in the pond that is the “teenage horror” genre. Can you guess which is which?
Jennifer’s Body stars Megan Fox in the title role of Jennifer and Amanda Seyfried as her best friend, Needy. Jennifer and Needy have been best friends since they were little girls playing in the sandbox despite the fact that Jennifer is the typical gorgeous, loose head cheerleader, and Needy has grown up to be more reserved, but an unfaltering supporter of Jennifer in anything she does. One night the two attend a show at a local bar because Jennifer wants to bag the lead singer. In an unfortunate series of events, the bar goes up in flames and Jennifer and Needy barely escape with their lives. In shock and a little drunk Jennifer leaves with the band in their van. Needy races home upset by the fire and the loss of life as a result of it. Once there Jennifer shows up looking very zombie like. She eats some chicken, throws up some black spiney tar, then leaves. The next day at school, Jennifer is back to her old self. Of course, as the film progresses more and more murders of young teen boys happen at the hand of Jennifer and Needy frantically tries to figure out what’s going on with her best friend. After more deaths, more of Jennifer treating Needy like garbage, and a lesbian sub-plot is revealed Needy finally discovers that Jennifer has been possessed by a demon that can only survive by feeding on the flesh of teenagers. Of course Needy also figures out how to destroy the demon, so some fights ensue, Needy’s boyfriend gets in the mix, and one of the girls dies. I don’t want to ruin the ending for those of you that may want to check out Jennifer’s Body for themselves.
Overall, Jennifer’s Body is weak on all fronts – Diablo Cody’s second outing isn’t even half as strong as Juno. The script is nothing new in the teenage horror genre except that Cody brings in her own brand of annoying “trendy teen-speak” (perfect example: “Shutties” instead of “Shut up”). The film pretty much wanders from scene to scene featuring Megan Fox “looking sexy” and throws in some cheap horror thrills in between and a weak demon story. On top of that Megan Fox’s acting isn’t any better in this film than she has been in in any of her previous projects. You would think that she would be perfect at playing the bitchy hell-incarnate teen girl, but oddly enough while the rest of the cast seems age-appropriate, Fox comes across as a late-twenty something trying to fit in with high school kids. On a positive note, Amanda Seyfried does a decent job with the role she’s given as Jennifer’s push-over best friend. All in all, Jennifer’s Body is irritating to watch and barely generates enough interest to manage to sit through the 102 minute run time (though, making it seem like twice that). The fact that Juno was so well done makes it that much more disappointing.
Extras on the Unrated edition include both versions of the film – the theatrical cut and the extended unrated cut that adds 5 additional minutes. On the theatrical version of the film you’ll find a commentary with director Karyn Kusama and writer Diablo Cody. On the extended version, Kusama goes solo with the commentary and tries -half heartedly- to explain how the additional five minutes more accurately portrays Cody’s original script.
It’s safe to say that I don’t recommend Jennifer’s Body in the least. Though, I know many will go check it out to ogle at Megan Fox or just out of curiosity. I assure to Fox admirer’s out there, this film is not worth sitting through to just look at her. You’d spend your time better just looking up picture after picture of her on the internet. For those of you that don’t think this film could be that bad, I admit there is much worse out there, but it’s still not worth sitting through. Of course, you are more than welcome to check it out for yourself as Jennifer’s Body is out on DVD and Blu-ray now!
You can also check out Dr. Cyborg’s thoughts on Jennifer’s Body from when it was in theaters here!
Special Features Include:
DVD:
- Theatrical and extended cuts of the film
- Commentary with Director Karyn Kusama (and Writer Diablo Cody on the theatrical cut commentary).
Blu-ray:
- Includes same features as the DVD release, plus…
- Deleted scenes (“Dead Boys”, “Jennifer Check Is Gross”, “Needy Confronts Jennifer”, “Who’s Cindy Crawford?”, “Needy Faces The Band”, “Ass, Gas or Grass”)
- Video diaries
- “Jennifer’s Body: The Dead Pool” featurette
- “Megan Fox Is HOT” featurette
- “Megan Fox Peer Pressure PSA” featurette
- “Fox Movie Channel Presents ‘Life After Film School’ With Writer Diablo Cody” featurette
- Gag reel
- Digital copy of the extended cut of the film