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Released by: 20th Century Fox
Released on: December 29, 2009.
Director: Karyn Kusama
Cast: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnnie Simmons, Adam Brody, J.K. Simmons
Year: 2009
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The Movie:
Megan Fox seems to have made a nice career out of playing hot bitchy girls. She did it in the two Transformers movies and she did it in How To Lose Friends And Alienate People and she's doing it again with Jennifer's Body. You've got to give her credit - she's good at it, but it's hard not to imagine her getting more than a little bit typecast this early on in her career. But I digress. Let's get to the movie at hand.
Written by Diablo Cody with the same obnoxious style of dialogue that somehow managed to earn her an Oscar for the otherwise decent Juno, the movie follows two BBFs (best friends forever if you're not up on how the kids are talking these days) Jennifer Check (Megan Fox) and Anita 'Needy' Lesnicki (Amanda Seyfried) who live in the small rural town of Devil's Kettle. When they're not attending the local high school, they're hanging out together, much to the chagrin of Needy's nice, down to earth boyfriend, Chip (Johnnie Simmons). One night, Jennifer decides the two of them need to go to a dive bar and check out a band called Low Shoulder that she got into through MySpace - the singer (Adam Brody) is extra salty, which we can take to mean hunky or maybe dreamy.
The girls arrive and after Jennifer flirts with everyone and anyone she can, she approaches the singer and then decides to go get them some drinks. At this point, Needy overhears the band talking about how Jennifer must be a virgin as she's the kind of girl who shows it off but never gives it away. Needy's appalled by their talk and tries to take her friend away from this group but Jennifer's not having any of it and off she goes with them into their van… right after the bar inexplicably goes up in flames. Needy goes home and is woken up later that night when Jennifer shows up at her door. Covered in blood and puking up weird black goop, she's not in the best of shape but before Needy can really do much about it, she's gone. The next time Needy sees Jennifer, she's looking better than ever and flirting up a storm as if nothing happened. And then the local boys start showing up dead…
Cody's uncontrollable urge to load up an otherwise decent script with irritating little catch phrases and not even remotely subtle pop culture references hurts this film, but not nearly to the extent that it pretty much ruined Juno for a lot of (admittedly jaded?) viewers. There's plenty of Codyisms here, and they're bound to get on a lot of people's nerves but at least, unlike the earlier picture there are moments of reprieve. Had this been toned down a bit, the movie would have been a bit easier to take seriously. As it stands, however, it's hard to say if we're really supposed to. The movie switches tone quite frequently, and there are obviously darker moments meant to be comical - sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.
On top of that, the film is, like its central character, a tease. It's not gory enough or sexy enough to appease exploitation fans and in their eyes will likely come off as a half assed attempt to be edgy. It doesn't deliver much in the way of gore outside of a few moderately splattered bits and pieces and neither Fox nor Seyfried get naked (though they both come close). The lesbianism that's inferred early on manifests but only with lukewarm intensity and it's never really followed up on or fleshed out all that well.
The film isn't a total waste, however. If you don't go in expecting a masterpiece (or really much of a horror film for that matter) you won't be disappointed. Seyfried is very good in her role and Fox, well, she plays hot bitchy chicks really well at this point, so she's right for the part. Karyn Kusama directs efficiently and Cody's script moves along at a good pace. The film is entertaining enough in a disposable sort of way, but its flaws ensure it never comes close to living up to its potential.
This Blu-ray release contains both the theatrical cut of the movie and the extended version. Before anyone gets too excited, the extended version does not contain any added sex or violence but rather more character development bits.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Jennifer's Body looks pretty sharp in this 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen presentation in full AVC encoded 1080p high definition. The well authored disc handles the dark interiors just as well as some of the brighter outdoor scenes so as varied as the locations used for the film may be, they all look quite good. The shot where Jennifer swims naked through the lake after feasting on her first victim is a prime example, the water has a really nice clarity to it while the skin tones underneath look warm and natural. The interiors look as good as you'd expect, with the finale in the rundown swimming pool showing off lots of interesting decay and the prom scene allowing you to gaze at all the tacky décor. Black levels are good, colors look nice and natural (except when they're not supposed to, obviously) and the disc looks really good despite some sporadic grain.
Just as strong as the transfer is the English language DTS-HD 5.1 48 kHz Surround Sound mixes that accompanies the film. Surrounds are used very well during the more horrific scenes that are scattered throughout the later part of the movie but just as important to the film are the quieter moments. - like the tender bit between Needy and her beau in the bedroom.
These also fair well with some nice, subtle ambient noise, crystal clear dialogue and well mixed background music. Levels are properly balanced and bass response is perfect - you'll notice it whenever 'bad Jennifer' attacks and in the soundtrack. The mix has got an appropriate amount of punch to it when called for, and it handles the mix of scenes that make up the movie quite well. There are no problems at all with hiss or distortion to complain about and everything is mixed properly here. The mix won't beat you over the head, much of it is subtle, but it is well done. Optional subtitles are provided in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, and Thai.
The theatrical version of the movie has a commentary from director Karyn Kusama and writer Diablo Cody, while the extended version has a commentary from Karyn Kusama alone. The first track covers the origins of the film, casting it, the themes they were trying to explore, and the production history of the picture while Kusama's solo track over the extended cut is a completely scene specific dissection of the film that gets a bit more technical than the first one. Both tracks are moderately interesting, but neither one will change your life.
From there, move on to the featurettes, the first of which is the fourteen minute Jennifer's Body: The Dead Pool, which is a behind the scenes featurette that focuses on shooting the film's conclusion. Cody and Kusama show up here as do the three performers from this scene along with some of the effects technicians who worked on the picture. Greg Nicotero shows off some of the work he created for the film and explains how it was used. Interesting stuff! Not quite as interesting are the thirteen minute of video diaries included here. Megan Fox, Johnny Simmons, Amanda Seyfried, Diablo Cody, and producer Dan Dubiecki were all given video cameras and encouraged to record their thoughts and experiences as the movie was being made and while there are moments here, much of this is fairly light and fluffy, only occasionally offering much input into the filmmaking process. More substantial is Fox Movie Channel Presents Life After Film School with Diablo Cody (SD), a twenty-six minute segment in which a trio of would be filmmakers interview the film's screenwriter who talks about how she found her way into writing for the big screen after working as a stripper and what she likes/dislikes about her newfound fame and career. Cody's detractors will obviously hate this one, but her fan-base could very well find it quite interesting.
Rounding out the extras are a forty second montage of sexier scenes called Megan Fox Is Hot, a half dozen deleted scenes (totaling under fourteen minutes and most of which are simply scene extensions), a Peer Pressure PSA parody starring Ms. Fox (SD), a five minute gag reel (SD), trailers for three unrelated Fox Blu-ray properties, animated menus and chapter selection. Except where noted, all of the extras on this release are in HD.
The Final Word:
Not nasty enough to appease the sex and violence crowd and not quite subversive enough to really tread any new ground, Jennifer's Body has got some obvious flaws. That said, it's entertaining enough when you take into account that it's playing safely within the confines of a major studio release and that despite its rating is catering to a teen demographic. The script has its moments, the performances are surprisingly strong, and there are a few fun twists to keep things entertaining.