The absolute worst thing that a producer can do to a movie is mis-advertise it. Unfortunately for "Jennifer’s Body," this is the case.
Diablo Cody, the beloved writer of "Juno," premiered her third film, "Jennifer’s Body" on Sept. 10. However, watching the trailer gives off none of the quirky-indie feel of her previous hits. Instead, the audience met with what seems to be a teenage-slasher where, instead of some disgruntled masked-killer, we have a disgruntled unmasked Megan Fox ("Transformers").
Contrary to the frightening, scantily clad gore-fest the trailer makes the film out to be, "Jennifer’s Body" actually has more in common with Cody’s previous films than the trailer reveals. Cody continues her exercise of strange and hilarious dialogue, which is quickly becoming her trademark.
In essence, "Jennifer’s Body" is a dark comedy that follows Needy Lesnicky (Amanda Seyfried, "Mean Girls"), the best friend of her high school’s hottie, Jennifer Check (Fox).
In a strange twist of events that involves a bar, an evil indie band – lead by Nikolai Wolf (Adam Brody, "The O.C."), a fire, a creepy van, and a very sharp knife, Jennifer goes from deviant to demonic.
From there, it’s Needy’s job to stop the high school queen from eating the boys of her town. At first, Needy isn’t sure how to handle her newly renovated "best friend," that is, until she turns her appetites towards Needy’s boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons). It’s then that her course of action appears all too clear.
"Jennifer’s Body" is an obvious reminder of Cody’s skill with strange teenage comedy, but it might be a little too cutthroat for some viewers. Funny as it is, the film can tend to be a little random (though this might be a plus for some) and is also saturated with blunt and graphic language. The language helps you to understand and recognize Jennifer’s character, but might put viewers off to the actress (in this movie at least). Nevertheless, performances by Seyfried and Fox are well done and give audiences a break from conventional horror flicks.
