Jennifer's Body (2009) review

27. Jennifer’s Body (2009)

Directed by: Karyn Kusama

Produced by: Daniel Dubiecki, Mason Novick, Jason Reitman

Screenplay by: Diablo Cody

Starring: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, J.K. Simmons, Amy Sedaris, Adam Brody

Here are a few things I remember about the year 2009. Obama began his first presidential term. The Lakers won the NBA Finals after a seven-year absence. I enjoyed a happy relationship while away at college. And some good movies completely slipped under the radar because the marketing teams clearly had no idea how to advertise them. Films like “Adventureland,” “Bandslam” and “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” are unique, smart, and well-acted, but people didn’t go see them because the posters and trailers either made them look generic or misrepresented the tone and appeal. “Jennifer’s Body” is another one of those movies; the poster’s only message is, “Derp, Megan Fox sexy, derp.” Granted, it appealed to me because I was a dumb 19-year-old boy, but that’s beside the point; this is a surprisingly clever and thought-provoking film, even if the mood and narrative are pretty inconsistent. In the small town of Devil’s Kettle, Minnesota, high school students Anita, a.k.a. “Needy,” (Amanda Seyfried) and Jennifer (Fox) have been best friends since childhood. But while Needy is more reserved and insecure, Jennifer is beautiful and popular, and often bosses her around. One night, the two of them attend a concert at a local dive bar for indie rock band Low Shoulder; a fire engulfs the bar, and in a state of shock after the ensuing chaos, Jennifer leaves with the band. She later appears in Needy’s kitchen covered in blood and vomiting black fluid, though looks perfectly fine the next day at school. But it’s soon revealed that something unnatural happened to Jennifer, as she starts horribly killing and devouring some of the boys at school. She eventually reveals to Needy that Low Shoulder—who’s been gaining popularity due to their falsely rumored fire heroism—killed her in a botched virgin sacrifice to Satan, and she’s now a succubus who must feed on human flesh.

Even though Fox is obviously the hook for the movie, I think the best performance comes from Amanda Seyfried as Needy, one of her first leading roles. She plays the part with energy, commitment, and versatility, looking very much like a girl next door but still with sort of an untapped edge to her. Fox obviously was viewed as Hollywood’s newest sex symbol for her role as the sexy lamp Mikaela in Michael Bay’s “Transformers” films, but I’m glad to see her play a character with dimensions, or at least the appearance of dimensions. Let me explain; we only get a vague idea of what Jennifer and Needy’s normal dynamic consists of, with the latter bristling slightly at the former’s abrasiveness, but just accepting it as part of their friendship. But after the fire, Jennifer’s mostly just even more callous and cutthroat than before with this demonic possession, albeit convincing in how she displays her new sense of power. Only once do you actually feel the tragedy through her eyes, when she’s putting on make-up, and we see the emotions in her face in the mirror; it’s like the movie wants to show her as a horrific monster, but also sympathetic, and the execution isn’t quite what it should be.

In fact, this is sort of indicative of one of the film’s main flaws, portraying a real sense of devastation while also injecting cheesy dialogue and humor. The screenplay is written by Diablo Cody, who had recently won an Oscar for writing “Juno,” which also had sort of a “too cool for school” vibe, but it felt a little more honest in its quirkiness. We see the repercussions of how deeply this fire affects the school, showing candlelight vigils and various students grieving, but there are so many cringey lines that might have seemed cute in concept, but it gets a little annoying after a while, although there are some funny bits here and there. Apparently, Cody started out intending for a dark, brooding slasher film, but couldn’t help herself adding the comedy, which can work, but this movie is particularly unbalanced.

With that said, however, the performances help establish a real feeling of community. J.K. Simmons is a scene-stealer as teacher Mr. Wroblewski, while his son Johnny plays Needy’s boyfriend Chip, who’s believable at being pleasant but also kind of a dumbass; there’s a sweetness to some of their scenes, but you also get these moments where she’s voicing her concerns about Jennifer, and he doesn’t believe her. It’s just as cliché and boring as it sounds. Meanwhile, Adam Brody plays Nikolai, the lead singer of Low Shoulder and proverbial ringleader of the sacrifice; he’s easy to hate, just a smarmy, egotistical poser. I do like their song “Through the Trees,” though, and the fact that they conduct the sacrifice while singing “867-5309/Jenny” is so weird, it’s kind of brilliant, although the editing during the stabbing isn’t easy on the eyes.

But it’s a little vague just how some of these horror elements are set up; the fire is filmed as though the band deliberately started it, but how would that even happen? Why does Needy hallucinate seeing Jennifer and one of her victims while having sex with Chip? What is this random house that Jennifer invites the emo boy Colin (Kyle Gallner) over to? However, I guess if you’re able to overlook the why and focus more on the what, you’ll see there is some decent suspense, as well as good and graphic special effects. The visual of Jennifer’s deformed jaw is really impressive, and the use of practical methods definitely adds to the appeal. The movie is generally photographed well, still showing Jennifer as a beauty even when she’s a beast.

Ultimately, I think it’s most effective at conveying why people can stay in toxic friendships, out of loyalty, fear, or even something more unexplainable. One major selling point is the make-out scene between Needy and Jennifer, and while it’s certainly a hot moment, the script originally had much more tension before the studio had them condense it into one bedroom sequence. Watching it again, there are snippets of a hidden attraction there, but not enough to feel like a substantial arc. So this is a tough one; I do enjoy watching “Jennifer’s Body,” and there are great individual moments, but I feel like the mood should’ve gone all the way towards either satire or horror, not both. When this movie came out, it got mixed reviews and didn’t make much of an impact at the box office; but over the years, it’s been re-evaluated as a cult hit among feminists as well as the LGBTQ community, with its theme of men sacrificing a young girl to advance their careers and her subsequent revenge, and its portrayal of the extent of bonds between certain friends. There are aspects I see now that I didn’t used to, but I still view the film as something that could’ve been great, were it not for the sum of its faults.

My rating: 7/10