Diablo Cody’s second screenplay is full of great ideas and a number of good lines but something keeps Jennifer’s Body from gelling into a well paced and entertaining picture that seems to be hiding in there like the demons inside our title character.
The story follows the school’s hottest girl Jennifer and her best friend Needy whose unlikely friendship is probably based on Jennifer’s insecurities but the two are friends nonetheless. The two decide to attend a rock concert of a band, Low Shoulder, who are from the “big city” and Jennifer dreams of hooking up with their lead singer. The band though is a bit odd and is in search of a virgin which they think they should be able to find with ease at this small town gig. Jennifer lies about her sexual purity to the band and seeing that they have found their virgin an oddly suspicious fire erupts in the bar killing many local patrons and Low Shoulder uses the tragedy to lure Jennifer into their van and off into the night. Later when Needy gets home, Jennifer shows up in her house looking rather messed up, puking black goop all over the kitchen, and leaving as mysteriously as she arrived. Jennifer shows up at school the next day seemingly fine and as the school mourns the students and citizens lost in the fire more people end up mysteriously killed and we learn something seriously weird has happened to Jennifer.
I know that was a lot of plot but I felt like laying out the film is important to discuss what Cody tries to do with the genre from here on out. The film has a lot of fun playing with the idea of grieving in high school, commenting on high school in general, and has some fun with the horror genre in a fairly original way. The girl vs. girl dynamic is interesting as well and the motives that Jennifer has in who she goes after are intriguing but not explored enough to be interesting. They make illusions to Jennifer going after people associated with Needy but it really is never clear. One thing the film does do well is the relationship between Needy and her boyfriend as it feels like a pretty accurate and honest reflection of a high school relationship with the two having some pretty good chemistry as well. Cody’s script really shines in its commentary on red state America and 9/11 fears in general and while it might seem a bit belated I think it really works. The concept surrounding the connection between the two girls is also an interesting concept that I don’t feel like they executed to enough effect as well. In fact, the film as a whole feels like it just never follows through as a whole and I don’t know if that is Cody’s script or the director Karyn Kusama’s fault. The film never finds a flow, drags on numerous occasions, and like I have mentioned fails to clarify itself on a number of occasions. Now I don’t really think there is a great movie in here, but there certainly is the ground work for a much better one if you ask me.
The actors in the film are actually quite good across the board, with most of the work doled out to the two fore mentioned girls and Chip the boyfriend. Megan Fox is fun, sexy, and entertaining as Jennifer and her demeanor works wonderfully for the title character Jennifer. She might not be the brightest character but she isn’t supposed to be and Cody’s dialogue is delivered believably and humorously by Fox. Needy is also played really well by Amanda Seyfried who nails the awkward girl vibe, but really shines in the early asylum scenes where we discover she is “a kicker”. I mentioned Seyfried’s chemistry with her boyfriend played by Johnny Simmons and Simmons is both funny and believable in his work and his scenes are some of the films high points. Adam Brody steals every scene he is in as Low Shoulders lead singer and routinely has the best one liner’s every time he pops up on screen. J.K. Simmons is also quite funny in his limited work as an odd teacher at the kid’s high school.
In the end, Jennifer’s Body is an interesting attempt at giving the horror genre a fresh face but it never really congeals into anything worthwhile. I enjoyed the first half hour or so quite a bit, but from there the pacing gets way out of whack and the film is a bit all over the place. There were quite a few good lines in the film and I was laughing a bit here and there but Kusama can’t put together Cody’s interesting ideas on the genre into a cohesive product and the results leave us a bit confused and restless. Anyways, there are some things to enjoy in the picture, Fox, Seyfried, and the dialogue first and fore most, it is just a shame it couldn’t have been better as a whole.
Jennifer’s Body is a D

Jennifer’s Body is currently available on Blu-ray and DVD