Jennifer's Body

Jennifer's Body generated a lot of pre-release on two fronts. It was the second script from Diablo Cody after Juno and of course it stars Megan Fox, she who stares out from so many glossy magazines.

However once released the fuss quickly died down since the film itself is distinctly very average. This is mostly because it's not sure what it wants to be. Is it a dark school satire a la Heathers? Is it a creature feature? Is it a stalk and slash? Is even maybe a rom-com?

Well it never quite makes it's mind up and that's mainly down to the Cody's screenplay which flits from one thing to another without ever quite picking a tone and this time around a lot of the 'cool' teenspeak fells a little forced. (And J.K. Simmons' teacher feels like a rip from Mean Girl's headmaster) Another key problem is we never ger a real feel for the character of Jennifer her self so when she does go evil it's pretty hard to tell the difference or relate at all to Needy's friendship with her.

A problem not helped by Megan Fox's performance. Ok she's not really given a lot to work with but she comes across very flat and never really conveys the menace or sexual aura that it you feel she's supposed to. Nor does she seem to have a real knack for comic timing here either. So the jury is very much out on if she can hack it away from supporting giant fighting robots and Shia to carve out a real career of her own.

On the other hand as Needy the dowdy best friend Amanda Seyfried puts in a likeable performance following up her work in Mamma Mia!, Big Love on TV and of course from being a 'Mean Girl' herself. With a couple of films lined up for release this year ('Chloe' with Julianne Moore and Liam Nielson is up first) it seems she's the more likely one to break out and really get some momentum this year.

It also has to be said that director Karyn Kusama's direction is competent rather than dynamic and she fails to coach performances out of the cast the really work the script in the way Jason Reitmen did so well with Juno (but then he did have the advantage of both Micheal Cera and Ellen Page).

The film did however raise a smile in one or two plays thanks to the odd spot of banter hitting the mark and the concept of an indie band literally selling their soul to the devil for success deserves some points.

Overall it's a bit of a mish mash that ends up as nothing in particular, quickly losing momentum from initially interesting set-up in the first few minutes and in the end gives us no real idea of how well Cody and Fox can develop their careers from here, tho' as mentioned Seyfried still manages to stand out