Jennifer’s Body ««
R, 102m. 2009
Cast & Credits: Megan Fox (Jennifer Check), Amanda Seyfried (Needy Lesnicky), Johnny Simmons (Chip), Adam Brody (Nikolai Wolf), Sal Cortez (Chas), Ryan Levine (Mick), Juan Riedinger (Dirk), J.K. Simmons (Mr. Wroblewski), Amy Sedaris (Needy’s Mom), Cynthia Stevenson (Chip’s Mom). Screenplay by Diablo Cody. Directed by Karyn Kusama.
I equate watching Jennifer’s Body to that of being subjected to a popular song that makes me cringe every time I hear it. The annoying tune I couldn’t get out of my head for over 90 minutes was Taylor Swift’s You Belong To Me (2008).
By comparison, at one moment early on during the film, Needy (Amanda Seyfried) shares the same negative feelings about a popular song a satanic band called Low Shoulder, wrote in honor of several students killed in a blaze at a bar that both she and her “best friend forever” gal pal Jennifer Check (Megan Fox) were at.
The reason why I was so bothered by the Swift song was because the lyrics practically fit the description of the two females leads, played by Fox and Seyfried. I have to wonder if the Oscar winning screenwriter of Juno (2007), Diablo Cody, didn’t write the screenplay using the lyrics as a means of creating the characters.
Even if Swift’s lyrics don’t describe Fox and Seyfried’s characters, they certainly describe the film’s opening moment at a high school pep rally. We see Needy sitting on the bleachers watching Jennifer, the head cheerleader perform on the gym floor.
There goes those lyrics again…"She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers.”
Is it a coincidence that near the middle of the film after the two engage in some lesbian love making when Jennifer tells Needy what happened to her that night she was abducted by the satanic rock band, I started thinking about these lyrics as well?
Perhaps the film is about what happens when young female high school teens don’t get sex. They become grouchy like as though they just had their period. At one point, Jennifer fails to exhibit that supposed happy glow one gets after they’ve just had sex.
One thing I can definitely say this movie is not is it is in no way a film about being accepted by one’s peers in high school. I came to the conclusion the studio had no idea who the film’s intended audience was so they just cast Megan Fox in the title role and added the advertisement “From the academy award winning writer of Juno” as a means to bring in audiences opening weekend. (The film failed to make it in the top three when it debuted Sept. 18 opening instead at number five).
Jennifer’s Body is, instead, nothing more than that annoying Taylor Swift song I can’t get out of my head, nor can I seem to escape from.
The moment I turned on the car radio the other day, I heard:
This song follows me everywhere. There is just no escaping it.
©9/23/09
R, 102m. 2009
Cast & Credits: Megan Fox (Jennifer Check), Amanda Seyfried (Needy Lesnicky), Johnny Simmons (Chip), Adam Brody (Nikolai Wolf), Sal Cortez (Chas), Ryan Levine (Mick), Juan Riedinger (Dirk), J.K. Simmons (Mr. Wroblewski), Amy Sedaris (Needy’s Mom), Cynthia Stevenson (Chip’s Mom). Screenplay by Diablo Cody. Directed by Karyn Kusama.
By comparison, at one moment early on during the film, Needy (Amanda Seyfried) shares the same negative feelings about a popular song a satanic band called Low Shoulder, wrote in honor of several students killed in a blaze at a bar that both she and her “best friend forever” gal pal Jennifer Check (Megan Fox) were at.
The reason why I was so bothered by the Swift song was because the lyrics practically fit the description of the two females leads, played by Fox and Seyfried. I have to wonder if the Oscar winning screenwriter of Juno (2007), Diablo Cody, didn’t write the screenplay using the lyrics as a means of creating the characters.
She wears high heels, I wear sneakers
She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers
Dreaming bout the day when you'll wake up and find
That what you're looking for has been here the whole time
Even if Swift’s lyrics don’t describe Fox and Seyfried’s characters, they certainly describe the film’s opening moment at a high school pep rally. We see Needy sitting on the bleachers watching Jennifer, the head cheerleader perform on the gym floor.
There goes those lyrics again…"She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers.”
Is it a coincidence that near the middle of the film after the two engage in some lesbian love making when Jennifer tells Needy what happened to her that night she was abducted by the satanic rock band, I started thinking about these lyrics as well?
If you could see that I'm the one who understands you
Been here all along so why can't you see?
You belong with me
The Swift song wasn’t the only thing I couldn’t get out of my head. I started asking myself what kind of movie is Jennifer’s Body supposed to be. Who is its intended audience? I eventually came to the conclusion that this is a movie that doesn’t know what it wants to be about. Perhaps the story just wants to be different things to different people. On one level, I suppose it can be considered a dark comedy in which Jennifer, after being abducted by the satanic band members and is sacrificed as a virgin, though it’s obvious given her sexual prowess that she is not, becomes a voracious man eater, literally.Maybe the story is a warning to those who when choosing to sacrifice female virgins to Satan, make sure they actually ARE virgins. Otherwise, the dead will come back as Jennifer does disguised as a demon you can’t kill.
Perhaps the film is about what happens when young female high school teens don’t get sex. They become grouchy like as though they just had their period. At one point, Jennifer fails to exhibit that supposed happy glow one gets after they’ve just had sex.
One thing I can definitely say this movie is not is it is in no way a film about being accepted by one’s peers in high school. I came to the conclusion the studio had no idea who the film’s intended audience was so they just cast Megan Fox in the title role and added the advertisement “From the academy award winning writer of Juno” as a means to bring in audiences opening weekend. (The film failed to make it in the top three when it debuted Sept. 18 opening instead at number five).
I can also say the ones who will embrace Jennifer’s Body are those infatuated with Megan Fox, who can’t get enough of seeing her in the two Transformers films and plastered on the front pages of movie magazines, Rolling Stone and such girlie men’s publications as Maxim and FHM (Europe’s For Him Magazine). The film’s only selling point, ok, two selling points, and I am not giving away anything here, is other than that infamous lesbian make out scene is the shot of Fox swimming naked in a pond. And no dear reader, I was not aroused by neither of these scenes. I won’t be surprised, though, if months from now I see an announcement on thedigitalbits.com that an unrated version of this movie will be released showing perhaps more of those very scenes.The best thing I can say about Jennifer’s Body is at least it wasn’t predictable and like her Oscar winning screenplay, Juno, the film boasts a couple memorable witty lines like “Jennifer’s evil. No I mean she’s actually evil. Not high school evil.” The script, however, is far from being Oscar worthy.
Jennifer’s Body is, instead, nothing more than that annoying Taylor Swift song I can’t get out of my head, nor can I seem to escape from.
The moment I turned on the car radio the other day, I heard:
She wears high heels, I wear sneakers
She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers
This song follows me everywhere. There is just no escaping it.
©9/23/09
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