Kusama and Cody don't fully succeed in making Jennifer's Body as clever as intended, but...they unleash some potent ideas and subvert the genre
Jennifer's Body (2009)
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Reviews Counted:159
Fresh:67
Rotten:92
Average Rating:5.1/10
Consensus: Jennifer's Body features occasionally clever dialogue but the horror/comic premise fails to be either funny or scary enough to satisfy.
Theatrical Release:Sep 18, 2009 Wide
Box Office: $16,031,583
Synopsis: A sexy horror film with a wicked sense of humor, JENNIFER'S BODY is about small town high school student Jennifer (Megan Fox), who is possessed by a hungry demon. She transitions from being "high... A sexy horror film with a wicked sense of humor, JENNIFER'S BODY is about small town high school student Jennifer (Megan Fox), who is possessed by a hungry demon. She transitions from being "high school evil" - gorgeous (and doesn't she know it), stuck up and ultra-attitudinal - to the real deal: evil/evil. The glittering beauty becomes a pale and sickly creature jonesing for a meaty snack, and guys who never stood a chance with the heartless babe, take on new luster in the light of Jennifer's insatiable appetite. Meanwhile, Jennifer's lifelong best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried), long relegated to living in Jennifer's shadow, must step-up to protect the town's young men, including her nerdy boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons). --© Fox [More]
Starring: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, J.K. Simmons
Starring: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, J.K. Simmons, Amy Sedaris, Adam Brody, Cynthia Stevenson
Director: Karyn Kusama
Director: Karyn Kusama
Screenwriter: Diablo Cody
Producer: Mason Novick, Daniel Dubiecki, Jason Reitman
Composer: Theodore Shapiro, Stephen Barton
Studio: Fox Atomic
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Reviews for Jennifer's Body
Jennifer's Body's parts aren't working, so in its bid to become a clever cult movie, it ends up looking like it's trying too hard.
Just when we think we 'get' where Cody and Kusama are taking us, they thwart expectations and cinematic standards%u2026but not always in a good way.
Jennifer's Body is full of ideas, but it doesn't have much in the way of tonal control.
Jennifer's Body is not funny, nor is it sexy (the girls keep their clothes on), nor is it scary (it's all just special effects).
Some weakly constructed things are better left asleep in their coffins.
Diablo Cody and director Karyn Kusama seem less interested in cheap scares than in something more substantive: exploring the purgatorial existence of teens caught between being kids and adults.
By the time we know what's wrong with Jennifer's body, we just don't care. Movie just sucks the life out of horror fans. Paul Chambers, CNN.
Attempting to instill wit into a witless horror flick, Diablo Cody shows that her faux-hip dialogue does not a feature make.
Jennifer is dead-eyed and impassive, but a good actress might yet have played her in a lively, knowing way. Fox’s dead-eyed impassiveness seems all too much her own.
The film is not without merit and has more corpses and red corpuscles than the anaemic Twilight series of vampire flicks.
There's not a moment in Jennifer's Body that's intentionally scary, and the characters never reach beyond the level of stereotype.
By tapping in to the same vein of ‘hormonal horror’ as the excellent ‘Ginger Snaps’, this offers a witty, subversive look at the darker side of teen friendship.
Jennifer's Body has more to say about the dynamics of teenaged female friendship, sexual power games and the trials of adolescence than many a more self-consciously worthy film.
The premise — Mean Girls with demonic possession and a feminist subtext — is promising. But the film fails to deliver either laughs or scares in sufficient numbers.
Although Jennifer’s Body offers up both comedy and horror, each is doled out in only the meanest of amounts, with the film just scraping through to a lacklustre and unsatisfying finale.
Writer Diablo Cody's willingness to resort to flogging the movie off the back of Fox's cleavage and highly-sexual public profile spoils what could have been an interesting and original addition to the slasher horror genre.
Latest News for Jennifer's Body
September 25, 2009:
Submit to the RT Show and Earn a Cool $100
Time for the weekly update, folks. As always, thanks to everyone who has submitted reviews and helped contribute to the show. Every week, we continue to bring you a lively,... More...
September 22, 2009:
Diablo Cody Adapting Sweet Valley High Next? ![]()
According to The Hollywood Reporter, 'Juno' and 'Jennifer's Body' screenwriter Diablo Cody is attached to adapt and produce a film of the popular 'Sweet Valley High' teen... More...
September 22, 2009:
Watch RT This Week on Current TV
This week, The Rotten Tomatoes Show will be looking at the movies that opened over the weekend, with help from you (the Rotten Tomatoes community), the Current TV community, and... More...
September 18, 2009:
Submit to the RT Show and Earn a Cool $100
Time for the weekly update, folks. As always, thanks to everyone who has submitted reviews and helped contribute to the show. Every week, we continue to bring you a lively,... More...
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