At this moment and time I’m still not sure what I thought of “Jennifer’s Body.” I mean it has its high points but in the end I was left completely unimpressed and just all around apathetic to what I’d seen. For one thing I enjoyed “Jennifer’s Body” more when it was called “Ginger Snaps.” Director Kusama’s story of two sister-like friends (who find themselves in a supernatural situation that’s bigger than themselves one of whom is a freak while the other friend is a looker) has already been covered and with much more effective storytelling to boot. That being said, “Jennifer’s Body” is definitely not the worst movie I’ve ever seen, it’s just not going to re-invent the wheel.
My disappointment towards it influences me to unleash verbal hell on the lagging storytelling that writer Diablo Cody (the “Juno” chick) paces bipolar manner. Sometimes the film has a brisk pacing while most times the movie just slows down to a halt and hardly manages to make good on its promises of grue and guts. Most of the time the murders Jennifer ensues on the male animal is kept off screen or in the shadows almost as if Kusama is purposely trying to tick us off with the lack of real pay offs. There’s also barely a peek a demonic Jennifer either. We get to see her a couple of times and then we’re left with Jennifer who is barely a memorable monster. I blame that mainly on Cody and Kusama whose horror flick tries anxiously to be “Heathers” with a bite.
It tries too hard to be hip with Diablo Cody’s utterly insufferable screenplay that follows her MO for inventing new words and spewing out one liner after one liner that are clunky and just cringe inducing. For all the film’s faults, though, most of the material is saved thanks to the duel performances of Amanda Seyfried and Megan Fox. Fox is quite enticing and convincing as the title character who becomes possessed by a demon when a local rock band tries to sacrifice her to the devil. Her eventual transformation in to the monster within her is a decent pay off and she never misses a chance to spout puns about eating boys whenever she can. Fox is gorgeous in the film and she’s complimented by the equally gorgeous Amanda Seyfried who plays the frumpy foil Needy with skill. Her cleverness matched with her intelligence makes her the perfect foe once Jennifer’s cravings lead her to mutilate almost any man she comes across and their eventual showdown in the climax is both very exciting and very much outside the box.
Their friendship on screen is realistic and they battle one another like alpha females looking to outdo the other. While Needy follows the bodies of young men, Jennifer is the perfect predator luring young men to their graves in violent orgies of blood soaked carnage. That said, one of the other aspects of the film is the clever climax that leads in to the credits revealing an open ended finisher that teases the audience well. You have to give it to Cody for that last wink to the audience. “Jennifer’s Body” is one of those films that probably sounded great on paper. Sad thing is, it doesn’t work well on film. To say that I’m disappointed with “Jennifer’s Body” is an understatement. Though Fox and Seyfried are convincing, the rest leaves little to be desired in the end with a clunky pace and distracting screenplay. On to the next disappointment.