Jennifer's Body (Film Review)
2009 20th Century Fox
Directed by: Karyn Kusama; Written by: Diablo Cody
Starring: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, J. K. Simmons, Amy Sedaris, and Adam Brody
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 102 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 8/10
Quiet, nerdy Needy (the always on-point Amanda Seyfried) and popular and beautiful Jennifer's friendship doesn't make sense to anyone. The duo don't seem like they should ever interact with one another, let alone sleep over regularly at each other's houses. Needy's boyfriend, Chip, also thinks it's strange, not because of the mismatch, but because he feels that Jennifer (played by Megan Fox--I'll get to her in a moment) is exceedingly rude. One night, Needy and Jennifer head to their rural town's bar to see a city band play, only for the bar to burn to the ground, as they narrowly escape. Jennifer gets asked into the skeezy indie-pop band's van, and takes off with them, despite Needy's objections. Later that night, a noticeably changed Jennifer pops into Needy's kitchen. She's covered in blood...and she seems hungry.
I have my own ideas on why 2009's Jennifer's Body failed with critics and the box office, but has recently been reappraised as a classic. They aren't exactly groundbreaking ideas...the filmmakers and actors have said much of the same. In 2009, Megan Fox had been non-stop marketed as a sex symbol. The 00's, or THE LAD MAG DECADE, generally featured Maxim and FHM magazine side-by-side in the Walmart checkout isle. Every up-and-coming actress was expected to strip down to her underwear for one of these magazines, but Megan Fox posed for both. Jennifer's Body was marketed as just another flick hypersexualizing Megan Fox for the same teenage boys ogling her on those pages.
Fox spends the majority of Jennifer's Body eating
teenage boys.
Diablo Cody wrote Jennifer's Body 19 months after she won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay for Juno. Apparently, she tried to write Jennifer's Body as a straight horror film, but couldn't stop the humor from coming out, until she finally leaned into it. Jennifer's Body doesn't go into the "it's obvious a brilliant adult wrote this teenager's dialogue" territory as hard as Juno does, but the film's writing is still quite brilliant, the dialogue snappy. With Karyn Kusama directing, Megan Fox finds herself for the first time in a major motion picture under the lens of a female gaze. The result is something not best served by Maxim advertisements.
Jennifer's Body explores the dynamics of adolescent female relationships, expectations placed on young women, and myriad other topics centered around the many meanings of the film's title. It does so while being damned smart, funny, atmospheric, and fun. I wouldn't quite go into the "horror classic" territory Wikipedia does, as it quotes an article from some place called CBR.com. Jennifer's Body isn't on par with The Descent, It Follows, The Babadook, The Witch, Hereditary...Midsommar, or any of the other classic horror films that have risen from the 21st Century. However, it's a very good and entertaining film, and I'm glad the present reappraisal is causing so many more people to finally see it. It doesn't prove that Megan Fox should have been her generation's Meryl Streep, but it does show (as does her stint on the sitcom, New Girl) that Fox has brilliant comedic timing and is funny as hell. Maybe this reappraisal will raise some career opportunities her early time in Hollywood didn't allow for.
Diablo Cody wrote Jennifer's Body 19 months after she won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay for Juno. Apparently, she tried to write Jennifer's Body as a straight horror film, but couldn't stop the humor from coming out, until she finally leaned into it. Jennifer's Body doesn't go into the "it's obvious a brilliant adult wrote this teenager's dialogue" territory as hard as Juno does, but the film's writing is still quite brilliant, the dialogue snappy. With Karyn Kusama directing, Megan Fox finds herself for the first time in a major motion picture under the lens of a female gaze. The result is something not best served by Maxim advertisements.
Jennifer's Body explores the dynamics of adolescent female relationships, expectations placed on young women, and myriad other topics centered around the many meanings of the film's title. It does so while being damned smart, funny, atmospheric, and fun. I wouldn't quite go into the "horror classic" territory Wikipedia does, as it quotes an article from some place called CBR.com. Jennifer's Body isn't on par with The Descent, It Follows, The Babadook, The Witch, Hereditary...Midsommar, or any of the other classic horror films that have risen from the 21st Century. However, it's a very good and entertaining film, and I'm glad the present reappraisal is causing so many more people to finally see it. It doesn't prove that Megan Fox should have been her generation's Meryl Streep, but it does show (as does her stint on the sitcom, New Girl) that Fox has brilliant comedic timing and is funny as hell. Maybe this reappraisal will raise some career opportunities her early time in Hollywood didn't allow for.
Comments