14 DAY TRIAL // For the past several months, fans of the horror genre and not only have been literally bombarded with information and juicy details on what was supposed to be a film that would revitalize the genre and bring some spunk back into it, “Jennifer’s Body.” Written by Oscar-winning Diablo Cody and starring Megan Fox and Amanda Sayfried, the flick was supposed to be a very smart piece that would be both funny and terrifying at the same time. Instead, it’s just disappointing, critics say.
“Jennifer’s Body” opened in select US theaters this Friday and, as it usually happens, the first reviews for it have already surfaced. At best, they say the flick is entertaining without having too much substance or, for that matter, something to cling onto. In other words, “Jennifer’s Body” is a good way to spend the time – but by no means memorable. At worst, critics call the film a major disappointment, especially considering it comes from the hands of the extremely talented Cody and that it stars Fox, virtually the hottest female star of the moment.
“‘Jennifer’s Body’ substitutes hipster credibility for emotional currency, confuses pop-psychology insight with substantive social commentary, and measures terror on a scale that ranges from the word boo to a dead spider; in short, ‘Jennifer’s Body’ just does not work. […] Fans of horror will be immediately disappointed by its coy approach to either visceral or atmospheric scares. […] The movie is perhaps best looked at like one of the girls at the center of its story – namely, as something that seems intriguing, but doesn’t know well enough what it is to convince anyone else that it’s genuinely interesting.” Todd Gilchrist of Cinematical says in a scathing piece.
Sadly, he’s not the only one to think that “Jennifer’s Body” is a film that tries to be so many things that it too gets confused along the way. However, there are some things that help it save face to some extent. “The film will most disappoint those who hoped ‘Juno’ had introduced a writer with a fresh point of view about young people in today’s world. Horror fans, however, will get a kick out of this absurd yarn of a high-school hottie-turned-psycho cannibal, who feasts on all those boys dying to get into her pants. And there is enough of those Arch, self-conscious comic lines to remind us this is a Cody screenplay.” Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter says for Reuters.
Overall, though, it seems that “Jennifer’s Body” did not even manage to accomplish the easy task of winning over the wider audience, a thing that other flicks (“Transformers,” “G.I Joe”) did instantly. The average rating for “Jennifer’s Body” on Rotten Tomatoes under T-Meter Critics is of just 17% - disappointing indeed.