Jennifer’s Body ***

About twelve seconds into Jennifer’s Body we realize that Diablo Cody’s writing style was not solely intended for Juno, a screenplay for which she won an Oscar. Given your tastes, this may be good or bad news. This time around we find Megan Fox playing Jennifer, a gorgeous, popular cheerleader, and all around goddess of small-town Minnesota’s Devil’s Kettle High School. Her best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried) is less gorgeous, less popular, and not a cheerleader, but we learn they have been BFF’s since the sandbox, and that kind of friendship lasts forever. Well, maybe not forever.

When Jennifer and Needy go to see Low Shoulder, a rock band from “the city,” at the local club, the night ends with the club’s destruction and Jennifer in the back of the band’s super-cool van. Soon after, Jennifer starts killing boys and feeding off their flesh. Needy more than suspects Jennifer for the murders, but she also suspects people will think she’s crazy for believing such unbelievable explanations, a suspicion confirmed when she finally tells her boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons).

Low Shoulder becomes successful with a tribute song to those lost in the fire at the club in Devil’s Kettle, which really ticks off Needy because she distrusts the band and its creepy lead singer Nikolai (Adam Brody). What happened to Jennifer in the back of that van anyway? We soon find out, and it was nothing much more than we expected. However, is Jennifer’s admission to Needy that she is “not even a backdoor virgin” let alone a virgin proper, or her claim to the band that she’s “never done sex” the truth? The distinction is one of the more important plot points in a movie that survives on its own quick wits and blood.

As Spring Formal approaches, so too does the film’s conclusion. It comes full circle and goes a bit further. The film’s end is not so much an “aha!” moment than a “well, yeah…” moment, but it works nonetheless. Pay attention as the credits begin to roll, as it is here we find fulfillment with the ending.

All together, Jennifer’s Body is well made and original. It is also entertaining and very funny. Megan Fox shows that she can do a tad more than react to explosions, and Amanda Seyfried shows why she is still a better actress than her co-star. To say the least, Diablo’s Cody latest effort is anything but ordinary for teen horror films. But will she continue to stick to her witty yet unrealistic teenage-speak for future projects? While Juno had some well-developed characters over the age of 16, Jennifer’s Body is almost exclusively populated with high school kids. These words would sound too ridiculous coming from the mouths of anybody else. While she has a distinct style, if Cody insists on writing pop-culture infused banter, she may limit her character variety to, well, Juno.