Customer Reviews

Jennifer's Body

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(51)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(25)

 

 

What was it about Jennifer's Body that made it seem like it would be so worthless upon first glance? Was it due to the fact that it at its heart is a teen horror flick, or the fact that it was written by Diablo Cody, whose darling Juno I just didn't care for (I know, I know, blasphemy). Regardless of the reason, upon viewing Jennifer's Body, I can honestly say that it is a surprisingly good, funny, and even enjoyable flick that lampoons its high school setting as much as it celebrates it. Transformers beauty Megan Fox stars as the title character, who is the hottest girl in high school, and ends up falling prey to a devil-worshipping band (led by Adam Brody) who use her as a sacrifice. However, Jennifer ends up coming back to life as a demonic boy-devourer, and it's soon up to her unlikely BFF Needy (Amanda Seyfried) to save the day, and put an end to Jennifer's spree. While the film is a play on the sapphic relationships between teen females, there is enough hearty helpings of humor and gore for horror fans to eat up. Combine that with Diablo Cody's Juno-esque dialogue and surprisingly good turns by Fox and Seyfried, and Jennifer's Body ends up being surprisingly enjoyable. Give it a chance, you'll be pleasently surprised.

The author of Juno, the star of Mamma Mia and the movie world's frequently voted sexiest woman, all rolled up into one movie, and about the supernatural. What could be more zeitgeist..? And yet, alas, this is a pretty woeful mixture of a movie.. told with polish in places, perhaps, but still a mess.
Jennifer (Megan Fox) is the most popular girl in town, her best friend is the geek (and hehehe... she's called Needy - gettit? What a laugh..). Jennifer is not shy - hormonally driven, one might say, and known to exploit her looks. However, she bites off more than she can chew when she falls fowl of Adam Brody's rock band, who turn out to be minor students of witchcraft. She ends up possessed, and needs human flesh to keep her looks. Can Needy handle the situation and bring an end to the series of deaths in town..?
The tone clearly wants to be this decades Heathers [Blu-ray], but fails miserably in nailing the subtle black humour of that movie. Here, the language, which likes to dwell on descriptions of body parts and functions, in a way that is normally best left unspoken and for good reason, sits uneasy with the attempt at some sinister and almost Gothic goings on in the town of Devil's Kettle. The visuals are not bad, admittedly, in places.. but it can't save a lurching storyline with poorly drawn characters, and soundtrack which strives for smooth and hip but only manages jarring and out of place.
Overall, interesting idea, which could have been a quirky and trendy teen Gothic horror with black comedy overtones.. but only manages to raise laughs for the wrong reasons, with the only horror the discovery that Juno really must have been a one off for Diablo Cody's writing talents. Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried have done nothing to further their career by being in this unholy mess.

In 2009, the dark comedy horror film "Jennifer's Body" would mark the return of award winning writer Diablo Cody ("Juno", "United States of Tara") and would feature a collaboration with director Karyn Kusama ("Aeon Flux", "Girlfight"), actresses Megan Fox ("Transformers" films, "Hope and Faith") and Amanda Seyfried ("Mamma Mia!", "Veronica Mars", "Mean Girls").

"Jennifer's Body" which cost around $22 million to make, earned around $33 million worldwide and has received mix ratings from a variety of critics but earning praise from Roger Ebert and Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone Magazine".

Now "Jennifer's Body: Unrated" is released on Blu-ray with a special unrated version which includes both the original theatrical version of the film and also an unrated version. The Blu-ray release also includes a digital copy of the film.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

"Jennifer's Body" is presented in 1080p High Definition (Widescreen 1:85:1) with AVC @ 26MBPS. Picture quality is pretty solid as you can see the detail in various surfaces around town. A lot of scenes featuring blood, dirt and grime on the characters which is quite detailed onscreen. There is a fine layer of grain, skin tones are natural and blacks are nice and deep.

The lossless audio is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD MA and Spanish, French and Portuguese in Dolby Digital 5.1. The audio is dialogue and music driven, so most of the audio is coming from the front and center channels. There are some scenes that utilize the surround channels, from the slight sounds of a police siren, crowd ambiance and some of the action sequences. Some of the bass you hear from the film comes from the music but for the most part, the film is front and center channel driven.

Subtitles are featured in English SDH, Spanish, Portuguese, Cantonese, Mandarin and Thai.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Jennifer's Body: Unrated" comes with the following special features:

* Audio Commentary with Director Karyn Kusama and Writer Diablo Cody (Theatrical Version) - An enjoyable commentary featuring director Kusama and writer Diablo Cody discussing the unique script and the structure of the film.
* Audio Commentary with Director Karyn Kusama (Extended Version) - While watching the film, a red box will show up on the corner (indicating an extended scene) in which you can hear Karyn discussing the differences of the theatrical version from the extended version of the film and how the extended version of the film which is much more closer to the original script.
* Deleted Scenes - (13:55) Six Deleted scenes which include the following deleted scenes: Dead Boys, Jennifer Check Is Gross, Needy Confronts Jennifer, Who's Cindy Crawford?, Needy Faces The Band, Ass, Gas or Grass...
* Gag Reel- (4:55) Bloopers from "Jennifer's Body".
* Jennifer's Body: The Dead Pool - (13:59) The cast and crew (including writer Diablo Cody, directory Karyn Kusama and the producers) talk about the concept of the film and working with the main talent of the film. And filming of the pool scene and the visual effects and make up effects involved.
* Video Diaries - Video diaries from behind-the-scenes on the set of "Jennifer's Body" featuring Megan Fox and Johnny Simmons (12:49), Amanda Seyfried (10:23), Diablo Cody (7:05) and Dan Dubiecki (3:02).
* Megan Fox Is HOT - (:53) A short special feature showcasing the sexy scenes of Megan Fox from the film.
* Megan Fox "Peer Pressure" PSA - (:37) A naughty public service announcement for "Peer Pressure" (ala promotion for "Jennifer's Body").
* Fox Movie Channel Presents `Life After Film School' With Writer Diablo Cody - (26:26) An interesting episode of "Life After Film School" with the three film students interview writer Diablo Cody about the film, her career, working with director Karyn Kusama, Megan Fox and more. Definitely love listening to Diablo Cody discuss her perspective of life and writing.

JUDGMENT CALL:

I suppose that there are horror fans who felt cheated that "Jennifer's Body" was less of a horror, teenage slasher film (despite it having horror elements) and was more of a film that was character driven and really focused on the relationships between Needy and Jennifer.

"Jennifer's Body" is quite interesting because Diablo Cody is pretty good of writing films, her way, her style and it's a carefree style of showing school popularity and the cruelness that happens amongst students. And what better way to take on the role of Jennifer than Megan Fox who has wanted to play this type of role.

But "Jennifer's Body" for the most part is not a great film nor is it the worst film ever made. I suppose it all comes down to the viewer and what they were expecting. Looking for a slasher/gory type of film, well "Jennifer's Body" has scenes that look quite disgusting but for the most part, it's not a scary film. In a way, "Jennifer's Body" plays more like a "Lost Boys" style of film with the music, dark groups of students in town where bad things happening. Also, the film manages to incorporate dark humor to the violence, teenage life and relationships.

But everything comes full circle at the end of the film and I really dig how "Jennifer's Body" ends so rock n' roll but with tragedy. A possible sequel in the future? Who knows.

Megan Fox did a fine job, this may not be the role that utilizes her in a non-sex kitten serious role but for Amanda Seyfried, she really shined in "Jennifer's Body" portraying a variety of emotions from anger, fear, sadness, you name it. It was really good to see her play the character of Needy since her previous films tend to showcase her in a more ditsy type of role. So, it was good to see her utilized in the film emotionally in a variety of ways.

If you enjoyed the film "Jennifer's Body: Unrated" comes with a good amount of special features and you get both the theatrical and extended versions of the film and a digital copy. But I really enjoyed how the Blu-ray release also gives us a much more in-depth glimpse of the writer Diablo Cody and her involvement in film. You don't get to see her shown all that much, so it was really cool to see several features with her.

Personally, for "Jennifer's Body: Unrated", it all comes down to the viewer. If you are a guy who wants to see Megan Fox, you'll dig the film. If you are a big Diablo Cody fan, you'll dig this Blu-ray release. If you're wanting to see the film for a scare, well... "Jennifer's Body" is not exactly that scary. But if you are wanting a popcorn flick that has elements of your favorite teen film and horror elements, you may find the extended version included on this Blu-ray release of "Jennifer's Body: Unrated" more to your liking.

Ok, I finally did it. I watched Jennifer's Body last night. I can't believe how badly the movie was trashed while it was in theaters. It really wasn't that bad. Actually it was a decent horror flick, and Megan Fox held her own in her first leading role. Granted this isn't Shakespeare, but people, the movie is absolutely worth watching. I do question the writing with lines like, "You give me a wettie", "Put it in", "Am I too big", "Am I hurting you" and my favorite line, right after Megan Fox was stabbed with a 10 foot pole and blood was squirting out of her gut says, "do you have a tampon?" It jumped pretty quickly from a true horror flick to a comedic spoof I believe. I must have missed the leap though.

Jennifer (Megan Fox) is a high school cheerleader and by far the hottest girl in school, now this doesn't take a stretch to believe. She hangs out with her best friend Amanda Seyfried and the two lean towards lesbianism, even though Amanda has a long term boyfriend. Sorry, but I might have to watch the movie again based on the above sentence alone. I do have to throw a snapshot in here as well about the kissing scene. It might be one of the all time best girl on girl kissing scenes in any movie to date. OK, now back on track. Jennifer and Amanda head to a bar for a night out, and that is where all hell breaks loose.

It appears that the band worships the devil and they need a virgin to sacrifice in order to push their career over the edge. They choose Megan Fox; now how they thought she was a virgin is beyond me. With her already having experienced sexual relations, in several different ways according to her monologue, the sacrifice goes badly and our darling Megan turns into a flesh eating demon. How can you fault her for getting a little carried away with her dietary supplements? She is Megan Fox after all. Let her feast on as much flesh as she would like.

So things start going a little whacky when half eaten bodies begin to show up, and in the end it really begins to piss Amanda off. She might be the nice book worm side arm to the smoking hot Megan Fox, but even she has her limits. Once Megan threatens Amanda's boyfriend the war commences and the girls start to battle. I guess that long drawn out passionate kiss they shared did little to heal the animosity a demon can stir up in the loins. So crazy girl Amanda does her best and without giving away the ending, if that matters, you do get to see a little blood spilled before the finally curtain call.

Again, not an Oscar level movie, but not a bad showing for what the movie was intended to be. I do think the writers and director should have made it a little more clear cut on whether it was a comedy or an all out horror flick. It really did seem to flip too suddenly and the comedic undertone almost seemed unintentional. It is worth taking a look at if you get bored one evening. Don't expect anything ground breaking but you will be entertained for a couple of hours if you like seeing smoking hot girls, lots of blood and listening to one liners like Megan saying, "My tit" and Amanda responding, "No your heart" when she stabbed her in the chest with a box cutter from Home Depot.

I think that 'Jennifer's Body' is generally hated by like everyone I know. But I sincerely liked it. I thought it was good and I've watched it a few times. Even though Megan Fox looks like a sloppy kisser and it makes me want to puke, it was still a good movie. I like Amanda Seyfried, which I've said before, and she plays a great role in this film. I think the story line was good, everything about the movie adds up, and I didn't feel like there were any gaps or anything.

'Jennifer's Body' is about this chick named Needy. Her best friend falls victim to some crazy, demonic, ritualistic type of stuff by some amateur band people. So after...whatever happens she goes on this crazy killing spree because she has to feed on people so she can stay young and beautiful looking. I don't really want to ruin the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it and wants to so I won't say anything else about it.

I thought that 'Jennifer's Body' was a great movie. Like I said, everything adds up, there aren't any plot holes that I noticed. I think it's definitely worth watching and I'm glad that it's part of my collection. It's not scary or anything but there is a little bit of gore...I guess. Either way, it's a good movie so just watch it! lol.

I guess I was expecting "Jennifer's body" to have something to do with the story. But no, Jennifer isn't even the main character here. The protagonist is actually Amanda Seyfried's character, you know the actress given second billing. Marketing I guess. Jennifer/Megan Fox and her body would sell more I suppose was the thinking.

Anyway, Seyfried and Fox are supposed to be BBF's I guess. We know this because we are told they share "sandbox love", whatever the hell that is. Apparently "sandbox love" involves children sucking blood from each others cuts which leads to a psychic link. Yeah. This is supposed to explain why Seyfried's alleged nerd status (ala Hollywood's idea that any girl with glasses is automatically a "nerd") and Fox being the most popular cheerleader/slut in high school, allows them to be best friends.

So this unlikely pair of stereotypes head off to a bar to see a boy band called Low Shoulder. These boys are looking for a virgin it seems and for reasons beyond comprehension they decide that Fox is the most likely candidate. Apparently Seyfried used her psychic powers of "sandbox love" to hear this plan being discussed from across the room in a crowded noisy bar. Despite this, the members of Low Shoulder will whisk Fox away anyway.

At this point the bar burns down and the two girls narrowly escape the fire that kills several of their classmates. Fox is then taken away by the boy band, we assume for sex. But Fox returns later, covered in blood and puking up black goop. But that's ok, she's fine the next day. This is where the "mystery" is supposed to start.

Then the film goes off on a watered down detour through Heathers country as the high school students go through grief counseling. Seyfried suspects something is wrong with her friend now. I suppose it's because Fox is slightly more callous/manipulative/shallow than she used to be. Turns out Fox is some sort of demon/vampire/werewolf/succubus/whatever the hell she is thing now and she eats the Stereotypical Dumb Jock.

Next on Fox's hit list is Stereotypical Goth Emo Kid. Seyfried has shown an interest in this Goth kid despite already having a nebbish boyfriend under her thumb. Apparently Seyfried has a thing for weak, easily controlled men. At any rate Seyfried gets some psychic impressions of the killing while she and her boyfriend are having sex.

At this point Fox decides to tell Seyfried all about her transformation "cause they are BBF's". The boy band tried to sacrifice her to Satan in exchange for fame and wealth but since she was not a virgin, she became this weird monster. (but the band gets famous anyway) End of "mystery". Yeah, what mystery. There is no reason this could not have been shown to us right away as it being withheld has no bearing on the plot. Seyfried is horrified but this does not stop the two of them from having an inexplicable lesbian makeout session in the middle of this revelation. (???) Maybe Fox has hypnotic powers or something. Whatever.

Now Seyfried breaks up with her bf "to protect him". But what do you know, this all leads to Fox getting her mitts on him. Psychic Impressions to the rescue though as Seyfried senses this and rushes to save the dude in distress. (Isn't all this subversion of the genre clever?! No? Yeah, not really)

Seyfried finally figures out what we knew all along: that Fox has never really been a good friend/person. (Yes, the women in this film are only marginally less completely stupid than the men. Is this supposed to be empowering?) Not before Fox kills Seyfried's worthless boy-possession though. He "was dead before she got there....but Seyfried's voice brought him back just long enough to say goodbye..." and impale Fox with a metal pole. Which prompts Fox to ask if Seyfried has any tampons. No, really. Of course the boyfriend missed Fox's heart (the only way to kill her apparently) and she just runs off.

Time for the big showdown. This involves lots of lame callback dialogue quips, Seyfried getting bitten, and breaking Fox's BBF chain necklace which seems to render her powerless enough for Seyfried to stab her in the heart. Unfortunately Fox's mother bursts in and Seyfried is shipped off to the mental institution, where she becomes known as "the kicker", you know cause she now kicks people's teeth out for making harmless comments in her direction. You see, the bite Fox gave her has transferred demonic powers to Seyfried, who breaks out and goes on a quest to destroy that evil boy band that caused this whole mess. Cut to end credits sequence showing her decimation of the band. I guess Satan wins? I'm not really sure. But that Seyfried sure can kick a lot of butt so...whatever, dude. Awesome and stuff.

Boo.

I hope teens don't actually use the witless slang that is peppered throughout this film. It's so uncreative and direct that it comes across like bad puns. "Groovy" may not be a great word, but it's better than "you give me such a wettie" or "You need to move on...dot.org." That doesn't even SORT of make any sense. Seriously, please tell me actual teens are more imaginative than this.

It's ridiculous how many songs are shoehorned into this movie's soundtrack. I lost count. Some songs don't get more than a few seconds worth of play before another one kicks in, one after another. I assume it's suppose to seem "artistic", but it plays more like they couldn't decide what song to play over a scene so they just used them all.

The film is good on a technical level. They know how to work cameras and such. But basically its just a dumb teen slasher/monster movie with some "genre subversion" involving role reversal. Which isn't really anything new in slasher films. Woman as heroine is basically a staple in this sort of film. I'm told the woman who wrote this thing won an Oscar for Juno so, she must be at least competent. Are these people just ignorant? It's as if they assume people who might like a horror film are dumb, so their idea of elevating the genre is to just feed them the same generic crap with a some "clever hipster dialogue" and "genre subversion". Just to get the kids thinking...subliminally...about...uh, something. It's sort of condescending.

Or maybe their agenda was no more than "horror movies tend to be cheap to produce and make money". Either way, this movie is just awful.

They say that the way to distinguish good wine from bad wine is by drinking lots of wine; in the end though, it is entirely up to the person to determine what he/she liked about a particular bottle. Who will admit to liking a $5 bottle of wine at a gathering? Movies are a lot like wine in this same way, and we all have our guilty pleasures - you know, that movie you really enjoy but hate to admit liking to friends & family because it may be contain nothing but gratuitous violence, sex, etc.

This movie has the capacity for serving as a guilty pleasure for lots of people because it's a teen flick disguised as a horror flick. Megan Fox's character (Jennifer) is a girl who not only enjoys using her body to get what she wants (drinks, etc.) she relies on it. She sees no problem using males as well as females such as her best friend Needy - Needy has been instructed never to look better than Jennifer on a night out together.

Of course, Jennifer's sense of entitlement and years of abuse to others are about to catch up to her in a very unusual way. Her appetite for preserving herself as the `it girl' of the school, town, county, etc. becomes a physical one and it is this unrelenting hunger that leads to her destruction at the hands of her best (and only) friend Needy, played by Amanda Seyfried. Needy is genuinely concerned for her friend but her awakening of herself as a person with a voice becomes clear when her boyfriend's life is threatened.

It's easy to see how Diablo Cody has masked the teen drama as a horror movie by adding enough gore to keep the average male entertained, not to mention the kiss/lesbian scene between Fox and Seyfried. And really there is no harm in that - you can appreciate it at face value because the movie is not asking you to take it seriously. Proof of this lies in the campy acting and less than cleverly-written dialogue.

The tone, look, feel and non-existent content of the movie are not enough for me to recommend it but if you enjoyed the movie `Idle Hands', you love Megan Fox or you're just in a funny mood and feel like watching gross-out senseless scenes of varying degrees, you will likely revel in Jennifer's Body.

this movie is Fanastic. This one, along with Mean Girls, and Easy A, are my favorite movies. Megan Fox, is my favorite Actress, and she is wonderful in it. Amanda Seyfried, is good too, but megan was the best. I Dont understand, how this movie can get bad reviews! Like, WTF! Killing Boy's Kissing Girl's, Murdering Friends,Hilarious Moments,...& The list goes on & on. What else isn't there?? It's like, all of the perfect things, that could possibly be in a movie, is crammed in this movie. This will deffinatally be a classic.

So I will admit I bought this movie just for Megan Fox eye candy plus it was like $12 bucks, and it sat unopened on my bluray collection for about 3 months until I had nothing else to watch and I was in the mood for a thinkless horror movie but I must say I was rather pleasantly surprised at the movie as a whole, I actually laughed out loud a couple of times and enjoyed the story but just when I started to get a little bored the Megan Fox/Amanda Seyfried Kiss (OMG!!!) this is the best reason to buy this movie on BluRay and watch on your HDTV, it is pure movie magic.

This movie came out at the same time with a graphic novel tie in. On the surface it's about a succubus type who feeds on high school boys to sustain herself. Expect lots of gore and inside jokes. Under the surface it takes a look at the power structure of female BFFs. Fox pretty much plays herself or how she thinks some people perceives her and she does a competent enough job. I find it peculiar that the Razzie Awards nominated her as worst actress but then I remembered that a lot of these nominations, like many things, just have to do with the fact that said people don't like Megan Fox because she's pretty and they're not. There's actually some amusing moments in here more related to American high school perceptions and beliefs. Horror is more campy and amusing than outright terrifying.
HUMOR: B minus to B; STORY/PLOTTING: B minus; CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: B minus to B; OVERALL GRADE: B minus to B; WHEN WATCHED: mid April 2011.