Jen's Bod is Freaky and Odd

Since 2007 two of the biggest female names in hollywood have been Megan Fox and Diablo Cody. The former started her career as the attention getting hottie from the cars-to-bots movies. The latter was a stripper turned academy award winning writer for her debut screenplay involving teen pregnancy and pop culture references. When I heard these two would be joining famous forces for the succubus in high school horror comedy Jennifer's Body I thought: Perfect, with a single film we will discover if the former can truly act and if the latter can truly write.

While no awards will be handed out for this film, I must say I was rather impressed with how it turned out. The story feels like it was partially taken from Daniel Waters masterfully written Heathers with the Bonnie and Clyde angle dropped, and a female flesh eater slid into their place. Notice how some scenes match up: seduction and death in the woods behind the school, the veiled sorrow followed by heartless mockery by students after losing fellow classmates, and the way the two lead best friends secretly hate each other.

The dialogue on the other hand is pure Cody. Like Juno, her characters speak so fast and sharp it's like they have their own language. The combination of Cody's words and Fox's delivery actually works more often than not. Her opinions on PMS, Rocky Horror, and the manipulation of men are quite humorous.

The plot is bizarre and all over the place involving: a burned down bar, a Satan worshiping rock band looking to sacrifice a virgin in the hopes of boosting their record sales, and of course the wronged man-eater herself. The film is never scary, but a pretty smile can be creepy when the teeth and lips creating it are dripping with blood. No wonder they show it three different times.

Now I've got to mention this because I'm sure it is a point of interest. Much to the dismay of Ms. Fox fans hoping to see some celebrity skin I hate to tell you that there is none. More to the point there is not a single shred of nudity in the entire film. However, there is a pretty racy make out session between Fox and Amanda Seyfried that even rivals the now notorious female spit swap in Cruel Intentions. Bonus points for JB seeing as how Fox does the scene in a pair of panties and a retro Evil Dead T-shirt (a nice touch).

That really is the whole movie. The illusion of sex and violence (more happens off screen than on) with performances and writing that are hardly fantastic, but are better than they have any right to be. I recommend Jennifer's Body for fans of dark high school horror guilty pleasure comedies on the level of something like Idle Hands. Fox and Cody have successfully managed to deliver a film with bite that could have been better if it bit a little harder. B