Still Tappable

GET READY for a rather strong audience reaction when Megan
Fox slides her tongue into costar Amanda Seyfried’s mouth in
Jennifer’s Body. However! While hot teen bisexualism might be a
cheap (and hot) way to sell a horror flick, this time there’s a deeper
message to be found.

Fox plays Jennifer, a high school hottie in the small town of
Devil’s Kettle who, while wildly popular, continues to be BFFs with her
nebbish childhood buddy, the aptly named Needy (Seyfried). Jennifer and
Needy have a complicated and symbiotic relationship: Needy needs
Jennifer to feel accepted, while Jennifer needs Needy to endure her
subtle put-downs and raise her flagging self-esteem. But things get
even more complicated when the members of Low Shoulder, a struggling
emo band with an interest in the occult (not joking!) and a lead singer
played by the hilarious Adam Brody (Seth from The O.C.—not
joking!), accidentally turn Jennifer into an intestines-devouring
demon. As the newly demonized Jennifer feeds on the horny teenage boys
of Devil’s Kettle, the town is brought to its knees—and all of
Jennifer and Needy’s relationship issues bubble up to the surface. One
of which, thankfully, is suppressed lesbianism.

First of all, don’t go into Jennifer’s Body expecting Drag
Me to Hell. Jennifer’s Body director Karyn Kusama is no Sam
Raimi, and be glad of it. (If she were, we’d have a toothless Megan Fox
gumming on Amanda Seyfried’s chin. Gross.) Jennifer’s Body is
more of a mainstream product—but in the best possible way. It’s
smart, creepy, funny, thoughtful, disgusting, and, for a horror movie,
surprisingly pro-woman. And it works because all the pieces fit
perfectly together.

While screenwriter Diablo Cody has been accused of being overly
precious (for proof, see the overly precious Juno), here her
cleverly worded script is streamlined to fit into the slash ‘n’ sex
genre of horror. While the quips come fast, funny, and furious, it
never slows down the plot or Kusama’s thoughtful direction, which often
reveals the underlying truths behind Cody’s deceptively glib
teen-speak.

Acting-wise, Amanda Seyfried is terrifically believable as the nerd
who’s forced to turn warrior, and as for Megan Fox—what can I
say? She’s kind of perfect. As a generally unlikeable person in real
life, Fox’s general unlikeableness works like a charm here. Still,
while Jennifer’s face and body are stunningly distracting, it’s easy to
see why she might have esteem issues—even when she’s eating a
football player’s lower intestine. And when her tongue creeps into
Needy’s mouth, you know that it isn’t just the demon talking. It’s
shorthand for the fact that, as Cody puts it, “Hell is a teenage
girl.”