Blu-Ray Review: Disappointing ‘Jennifer’s Body’ is Dead on Arrival

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CHICAGO – When Quentin Tarantino sets out to write a World War II thriller set in Nazi-occupied France, he can’t help turning it into a hip commentary on war films. Similarly, when Diablo Cody sets out to write a straightforward horror picture about teenage angst, she can’t help turning it into a snarky farce, featuring characters who wisecrack to the bloody end.

Neither screenwriter seems capable of composing a line of dialogue that isn’t colored by their pop culture savviness and distinctive verbal style. Like Tarantino, Cody is one of the few writers working in Hollywood who is the star of her own films. And if “Juno” was Cody’s “Pulp Fiction,” then “Jennifer’s Body” is her “Death Proof.” Everything that was fresh and charming about her previous work has suddenly become stale and irritating. It highlights just how invaluable the contributions of director Jason Reitman and actress Ellen Page were to the overall success of “Juno.” Cody certainly wouldn’t have won an Oscar without them.

Blu-Ray Rating: 2.5/5.0

Reitman sought to find the heart within the self-conscious cleverness of Cody’s script, and transformed it into a sentimental crowd-pleaser. Page utilized the stylish wordplay as a shield for her precocious character to use against the world, in order to mask her inner vulnerabilities (it was also her idea to use “The Moldy Peach’s quirky/cuddly tune “Anyone Else But You” as the film’s anthem). “Jennifer’s Body” is closer in spirit to Cody’s original vision of “Juno,” with its jet-black R-rated humor and a bombastic soundtrack featuring bands like Panic at the Disco and Dashboard Confessional (Kimya Dawson is conspicuously absent). It’s a horror-comedy in the tradition of “Carrie,” and like most films in that tradition, it falls far short of Brian De Palma’s satirical brilliance.

Megan Fox kills boys and cracks wise in Karyn Kusama’s dark satire Jennifer’s Body.
Photo credit: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Megan Fox toys with her eye candy persona as Jennifer, the reigning beeyotch of her high school who’s eagerly followed by her lifelong friend subtly named Needy, played by the voluptuous Amanda Seyfried (who hides behind thick glasses and frizzy hair in an unsuccessful attempt to pass herself off as plain). The film’s opening line, “Hell is a teenage girl,” could’ve easily been “Carrie”’s tagline, foreshadowing Jennifer’s eventual transformation into a demon that feasts on the flesh of boys. But Cody’s script cops out by making Jennifer’s bloodthirsty powers not the inner result of teenage cruelty, but the silly plot-driven result of a botched ritual sacrifice by an evil Emo band. The premise may have the potential to satirize the predatory nature of teenage girls, but director Karyn Kusama hammers the sociological metaphors into the ground.

Jennifer’s Body was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on December 29th, 2009. Photo credit: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Devoid of its bouncy rhythm, Cody’s dialogue lands with an embarrassing thud, as quips like, “Nice hardware, Ace,” and “Move on dot org, Needy!” elicit little more than tired groans. Watching “Jennifer’s Body” is a depressingly somber experience, since it illustrates how one of the industry’s brightest and most original voices can so quickly fall into the trap of mediocrity. Cody is an exceptionally intelligent talent, and she will hopefully triumph again. In the meantime, any moviegoer seeking a superior feminist horror-comedy should look no further than “Teeth,” Mitchell Lichtenstein’s spectacularly ballsy satire in which no man’s “pork sword” is safe.

“Jennifer’s Body” is presented in 1080p High Definition (with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio), accompanied by English, Spanish, French and Portuguese audio tracks, and comes with a digital copy of the film. The most fascinating extra is an unrated version that further amplifies the tonal uncertainty of the filmmakers (Kusama provides illuminating commentary). Cody joins the director for an equally excellent audio commentary for the theatrical cut, in which they discuss the film’s sexual and feminist undertones (Cody calls herself “a huge proponent of teenage sex”). The disc also includes deleted scenes, video diaries, a making-of-featurette, a gag reel consisting of actors stumbling over undeliverable dialogue, and a fitfully entertaining interview with Cody herself, who says she’s looking for the female Holden Caulfield. Better luck next time.

By MATT FAGERHOLM Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com matt@hollywoodchicago.com