Busy Body
Determined to consume everyone in its path, ‘Jennifer’s Body’ leaves viewers FEELING EMPTY
By Lisa Miller 09/24/2009
A rrogant as a queen, Jennifer (Meagan Fox) sashays down her high school’s corridor, black mane swishing
over her midriff-exposing pink hoodie. Before long the camera pans to take in Needy (Amanda Seyfried), Jennifer’s flaxen-haired best friend. Standing before her own locker, Needy — lady-in-waiting to Jennifer — chats with boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons) while noting Jennifer’s head turning approach.
During the film’s first half, whenever Jennifer demands Needy choose between Needy’s boyfriend or Jennifer, Needy selects the latter. On one such occasion, Needy cancels plans with her boyfriend in order to accompany Jennifer to a local pub. Jennifer claims the outing is necessary to exercise her crush on the band’s lead singer (Adam Brody). She instructs Needy to “wear something cute,” translated by Needy in voice-over, “This means wear something that won’t upstage Jennifer.”
If, as Needy observes, “Hell is a high school girl,” then the devil is surely an aspiring rocker. But what the girls don’t know is that the eye-linered singer plans to achieve stardom by sacrificing a virgin to the devil. He targets Jennifer as a prime candidate, unaware she has recently confessed, “I lost my backdoor virginity, then spent the next day sitting on a bag of frozen peas.”
That line, written by Diablo Cody (best known for her “Fight Girl” and “Juno” scripts), conveys the film’s painful subtext. While Needy (short for Anita) is capable of loving and being loved, Jennifer knows only how to use and be used. By following her teen girl compass to the band’s singer, Jennifer seals her own fate. However, because she is no virgin, the sacrifice transforms Jennifer into a succubus.
Jennifer must now seduce and kill boys, then feast on their organs to satisfy the flesh-eating demon inside her. While these gruesome scenes are sufficiently well-crafted, the film lacks either surprises or scares. In the days following her feedings, Jennifer becomes even more radiant and attractive than before. Her continued craving for Needy’s friendship — make that Needy’s worship — leads to some heavy girl-on-girl kissing until Needy has the overdue epiphany she is just another conquest. This fact is nothing new, but since Jennifer is now possessed by a murderous demon, Needy’s feelings about the arrangement have changed.
Needy searches the thinly stocked occult section of the school library for what must be done to kill the demon. She has resolved too late to stay away from her disbelieving boyfriend for his own protection because Jennifer has already decided Needy’s boyfriend stands in her way. The snipes, especially those written for Jennifer’s ruthless killer and for the lead singer who crops up on TV after achieving fame and fortune, float to the top of the film’s heap. However, in its determination to consume everything and everyone in its path, “Jennifer's Body” leaves us feeling as empty as a fickle high school girl. It may not quite fit the definition of movie hell, but it’s a darn good imitation of movie purgatory.
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