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Jennifer’s Body is a divisive film. Penned by screenplay savant Diablo Cody, the 2009 horror comedy stars Megan Fox as the eponymous Jennifer, a high school cheerleader turned demonic man-eater. Adolescence, am I right? The yin to Jennifer’s yang is her bookish best friend “Needy,” portrayed by Amanda Seyfried. The two quibble over standard high school issues like boys, where to party, and, oh right, the moral implications of literally devouring your male classmates.
The film is a little bit of everything — comedy, horror, action, parody — which may have confused moviegoers. Jennifer’s Body grossed just under $7 million during its opening weekend, falling behind other cinematic newcomers Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Informant!, and Love Happens (as well as Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself) on its way to fifth place. But box office revenue isn’t always an indicator of enduring success. Despite middling Rotten Tomato scores, the movie has blossomed into a cult favorite.
Love it or hate it, Jennifer and her body are now streaming on HBO.
Revisiting this movie, I 100% understand the divergent opinions. Jennifer’s Body is like a cinematic Rorschach test. What do you see when you watch it? Its got a little Mean Girls in it, a hint of Scream, but what stood out to me was the dialogue and the dry, underrated comedy chops of Megan Fox. The movie possesses a number of funny bits — “I forgot to read Hamlet. Is he gonna fuck his mom?” and “She’s just hovering. It’s not that impressive” come to mind — but the whole thing works due to Fox’s magnetic appeal. Well, Fox’s magnetic appeal and a killer performance from Adam Brody as Fall Out Boy adjacent rocker/satan enthusiast Nikolai Wolf.
That said, forty minutes into the film my reaction was, “Okay… what exactly is this movie?” The beginning is a bit jumbled, but the second half makes the first half retroactively better. It’s the type of movie you need to stream multiple times to truly enjoy.
