MOVIE REVIEW: Jennifer’s Body

Megan Fox in a main role of an evil demon – when this happens, I obviously can’t think straight. I am one of the people, who adores Megan Fox, watches everything she is in, having secretly fantasies with her, hating the person Brian Austin Green for dating her (but I like him as an actor). I am one of the people who thinks she is living sex and far beyond. Am I a cliché now? Well, not when I can say that most of the projects with Megan Fox are mostly average. Transformers is still story trash (the second movie was boring), she wasn’t that funny in the 35th season opener of the NBC comedy Saturday Night Live, and even Jennifer’s Body is not really a milestone in the history of non-serious horror comedies. But Jennifer’s Body is one thing: a crappy and funny movie from the vomit scene until the end.
Cheerleader Jennifer (Megan Fox) and dorky geek Needy (Amanda Seyfried) are BFFs for years and inseparable, though they have nothing in common. After a fire in a local bar, where some high school students lost their lives, Jennifer disappears with a rock band (in which Adam Brody is the lead singer) and comes back to Needy with blood all over her body. This is the beginning of something really bloody and deathly: Jennifer mysteriously gains a lot of appetite for human blood in male high school students. As Needy finds out that Jennifer is possessed by a demon, she has to find a way to stop her friend’s bloodthirsty rampage before it reaches her own boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons).

One thing is for sure and everybody should know it before watching: Jennifer’s Body doesn’t take itself seriously and is just a vehicle for a hot cheerleader being possessed, killing boys, still looking sexy and having a light lesbian scene between Amanda Seyfried and Megan Fox, so men’s hearts are pounding until their chests explode. The movie isn’t good for anything else. It seems that 80 per cent of the movie goers had completely different expectations, especially with Diablo Cody being responsible for the screenplay, who won an Academy Award for Juno two years back. And the only result of having different expectations is that they find Jennifer’s Body bad. But it isn’t. Seriously. And I don’t say that, because I have *insert a word* fantasies about Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried together on one bed.
The dialogs are funny as hell. Some examples? Jennifer about Needy’s breasts: “These are like smart bombs, you point them in the right direction and shit gets real.” Jennifer after being stabbed by Needy and bleeding out of the wound hole: “Got a tampon?” And, especially, after being stabbed by Needy: “Oww, my tit.” To which Needy responds: “No, your heart.” There are more example and I was laughing hilariously in most of the scenes – not only because of the funny dialogs, but some scenes were so ridiculous that it must have been on purpose to do them that shitty. But there lies the biggest problem of the movie: It doesn’t know if it wants to be a comical horror movie, a spoof of all the satanic rituals gone wrong, a funny movie with Megan Fox in it, or was it just a rip-off of Cruel Intentions (and I am only taking about the lesbian kiss scene)? Somehow the movie wants to be all of it, and this is what doesn’t let the movie work properly. At least the movie isn’t trying to be sophisticated or complex and is instead supposed to be a fun movie for the side; not important for the studio to make money with (the production only cost 16 million Dollar), not a breakthrough for all of the actors, and all in all a supposed-to-be fun project with no intentions to become a cult hit.

 The actors are clearly having fun in their roles. Megan Fox plays her sex card and shows once again her erotic side. She is the star of the movie, but her opposite part played by Amanda Seyfried holds her own. While Fox’s Jennifer doesn’t hide her sexual side and wants to have everything she can get (including the buddy-like Adam Brody, who might be a great guy to hang out with, when he is not about to sacrifice you for a demonic ritual), Seyfried’s Needy hides her beauty behind her gawky side and shows that she has
 nothing in common with Jennifer. Megan Fox took charge of her character and played with it, her acting is creative, and she even becomes a wreck when she has to be, and wanders completely outside of her sexy side. Jennifer’s friendship with Needy is completely believable, and every shitty small town somewhere in the middle of the United States’ nowhere. And Amanda Seyfried shows again that she is underrated in Hollywood and definitely can act. And Diablo Cody didn’t overwrite Needy’s goofy side, which lets everybody believe that she is not the one in high school, who doesn’t talk to people and vice versa, because she is not the ugly one in here. Johnny Simmons gives a sweet boyfriend for Seyfried, only his dying scene was way too wound up. I really had to laugh at its incredibly stupid scene, which looks like this wasn’t on purpose. This scene was the low-point of the movie.
Adam Brody had, like I said already, fun in his role. He stabs Jennifer like… a hundred times, with a smile on his face, and before the ritual he picks out the words for the ritual, which he found easily on the internet – hilarious.
Kyle Gallner makes a good stand as well, getting eaten by Jennifer, and shows like Seyfried, that he is worthy to look for in future projects.

The rest of the movie is typical basic: Jennifer’s Body is sexy, but doesn’t show much sex; Megan Fox eats people, but there isn’t much blood. Disgusting scenes are barely in the movie, at the utmost the vomiting scene might me the most disturbing scene (but this was too funny for me to be disturbing – I was mentally screaming WTF and had big eyes). Karyn Kusama’s movie is not too long, and not too short, and after her miserable Æon Flux she shows that she actually can direct a movie.
And when you don’t see the real purpose of the movie when you read the outlined plot (loser indie band tries to get fame and fortune by sacrificing a virgin to the devil, only their virgin isn’t one and transforms into a flesh eating demon) and you still expecting a clever (or trashy) horror movie, then you don’t know jack.
Jennifer’s Body is no masterpiece, but fun all the way. And I was entertained.