I think that if Megan Fox wasn't at the top of the hottest women list when this came out, it would have gone straight to DVD. Even as a DVD, it's hard to recommend a rental even if you're a big fan of Ms. Fox's charms. She's pretty enough but the sex-appeal is somewhat lacking, which is bad considering the true nature of her character. The hottest scene would be a kissing one with her best friend Needy (yes, that's right... Needy). As for nudity, look elsewhere although you'll see her naked back, naked legs and some quick cleavage. With that superficial stuff out of the way, I felt the tone was wrong throughout the movie. It already starts really badly by showing us the main character (Needy played by Amanda Seyfried) in some kind of institution and we soon realize that the movie is going to be one long flash-back sequence. This setup destroys any little suspense this movie might have had as we know she survived and a picture tells us what happened to another protagonist.
Jennifer's Body really wasn't scary or sinister even though it tried with some relatively tame gore and with some badly done scare jump scenes with the volume cranked up. I found Megan covered in blood more perplexing than unnerving. Considering the soft horror elements, the swearing (several F-words) felt out of place and also gave a R-Rating which prevented most teens from seeing this. There was a fire early on in a bar, and honestly I didn't know if they were trying to horrify us (with people on fire) or amuse us by the way it was filmed. The reactions afterwards just didn't feel believable or even credible. There was something that struck me as unconventional in an American movie as there was an attempt at showing normal safe sex, but contrasted with Jennifer's aggressive "seduction" of an innocent. As a b-movie comedy, it failed as the dialogue was just on the verge of being cheesy enough but not quite. It wasn't clever enough to compensate either. No really funny situations, other than perhaps the (unintentionnally?) lame dress and hair Needy wears at the end. It doesn't work as a teen movie, as we don't care about any of the characters, nor does it delve in teenage angst or problems. The special effects are rather minimal and unimpressive as the transformed Jennifer looks a bit artificial. The "fights" were lame especially the last one.
The best moment might be when Needy runs in the woods towards the inevitable confrontation. The stirring guitar music helped a lot but even that scene felt flawed. Amanda Seyfried is obviously a good actress wasting her dramatic talents here in this shoddy story. Megan Fox plays it mostly deadpan, superficial and egocentric although she shows glimpses of real acting ability (when she's scared). Structurally wise, other than the spoiling start, it also feels as if it should end sooner as the last part is lame and drags on. Overall, it's a pretty weak movie in all aspects. Weirdly, I think it had potential to be much stronger with better writing and fleshing-out of the ambiguous relationship between Needy and Jennifer both before and after Jennifer's "trauma".
Rating: 3 out of 10 (weak)
Jennifer's Body really wasn't scary or sinister even though it tried with some relatively tame gore and with some badly done scare jump scenes with the volume cranked up. I found Megan covered in blood more perplexing than unnerving. Considering the soft horror elements, the swearing (several F-words) felt out of place and also gave a R-Rating which prevented most teens from seeing this. There was a fire early on in a bar, and honestly I didn't know if they were trying to horrify us (with people on fire) or amuse us by the way it was filmed. The reactions afterwards just didn't feel believable or even credible. There was something that struck me as unconventional in an American movie as there was an attempt at showing normal safe sex, but contrasted with Jennifer's aggressive "seduction" of an innocent. As a b-movie comedy, it failed as the dialogue was just on the verge of being cheesy enough but not quite. It wasn't clever enough to compensate either. No really funny situations, other than perhaps the (unintentionnally?) lame dress and hair Needy wears at the end. It doesn't work as a teen movie, as we don't care about any of the characters, nor does it delve in teenage angst or problems. The special effects are rather minimal and unimpressive as the transformed Jennifer looks a bit artificial. The "fights" were lame especially the last one.
The best moment might be when Needy runs in the woods towards the inevitable confrontation. The stirring guitar music helped a lot but even that scene felt flawed. Amanda Seyfried is obviously a good actress wasting her dramatic talents here in this shoddy story. Megan Fox plays it mostly deadpan, superficial and egocentric although she shows glimpses of real acting ability (when she's scared). Structurally wise, other than the spoiling start, it also feels as if it should end sooner as the last part is lame and drags on. Overall, it's a pretty weak movie in all aspects. Weirdly, I think it had potential to be much stronger with better writing and fleshing-out of the ambiguous relationship between Needy and Jennifer both before and after Jennifer's "trauma".
Rating: 3 out of 10 (weak)