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Jennifer's body... literally.
Jennifer's Body is a coming of age story about a teenage girl realizing who she is and what it means to be independent from others. Much like Diablo Cody's previous film Juno, it's the story of teenage life gone a little haywire. Of course, this time the problem is a people eating demon inhabiting the body of Jennifer Check's body (Megan Fox) instead of teen pregnancy, but the foundations are still there.
The question is does taking the sharp writing of Juno and moving it into the horror/comedy genre work or does Cody's unique form of satire fall flat when it's taken over the top? The answer is no, it does not. It's entirely wonderfully, enjoyable and absolutely brilliant. The combination of quick words, graphic violence and over sexualization, along with a tongue-in-cheek attitude to all these subjects makes for one of the best comedic horror films since Evil Dead 2 (a film the movie not so subtly refers too, in one of its few faux pas).
As with most horror films the story isn't really about the evil that is inhabiting Jennifer's body, but the people trying to fight it. In this case that's Jennifer's nerdy best friend Needy Lesnicky (Amanda Seyfried). After a Satan worshiping rock band mistakes Jennifer for a virgin and sacrifices her to Satan so that they can become rich and famous, Jennifer returns with a demon in her body and must feed on a human every month or so in order to stay beautiful and have super powers. Needy, who has been friends with Jennifer for years and always on the short end of the friendship, is the only one who notices the change, but is of course ignored.
It sounds like the plot out of any standard horror film, but it's the writing and directing that makes it pop. Jennifer and Needy's world is the same one that Juno inhabited. You know, where teens talk like they actually know some cultural references, and even the dumb popular girls (Jennifer) are quick witted and sharp tongued to the point where even the jokes about them being dumb would actually require them to be smart. It's the way you wish young people talked and it makes for a delightfully enjoyable script that's not only quick, but a wonderful deconstruction of the genre. As a big horror fan it made me happy.
So did director Karyn Kusama, who takes the tropes of the horror genre and bashes you over the head with them. Her uber-sexualization of Meagan Fox's body (all be it not difficult to sexualize) reverts the traditional male gaze of the horror movie audience back at them, and the lesbian undertones (and not so undertones) running throughout the film belie the traditional motifs of the genre. Jennifer's Body is horror thrown back at us with it's tongue firmly in its cheek and its conventions open for all to see.
Of course the film isn't perfect. It might be one of the best, but it's no Evil Dead 2. Much like Juno it likes it's own cleverness a bit too much, reveling in the snappy one liners that work most of the time, but can feel out of place at others. Sometimes teens need to talk like teens. It's also fair to say that if you aren't a horror buff Jennifer's Body is going to be far less interesting, and possibly even a bit slow. It does have a few pacing issues that, if you aren't dissecting it as a horror satire, would make the film a bit less enjoyable.
Thankfully if you're laying down hard earned cash for this film you're either a horror buff, or you came to see Fox and Seyfried make out. If you go for the latter reason I don't blame you -- it's a pretty solid kiss -- but you might just find a really smart horror movie behind the girl-on-girl action.
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