When Jennifer’s Body premiered, it was viewed as a sex romp for straight teen boys, and as such, it was a failure Here’s what made Jennifer’s Body an easy-to-hate flop in 2009, and what makes it a beloved cult classic in the making in 2018. It’s become a case study in what we value in movies and what we dismiss, and how those values can shift over the course of a decade. “Thematically, it hits on so many of the issues women in Hollywood are talking about in the aftermath of #MeToo and Times Up that I find it hard to believe it would have been as critically panned today.”Īnd earlier this month, Vice published a long reevaluation of the movie by Frederick Blichert under the headline “ Jennifer’s Body would kill if it came out today.” Jennifer’s Body, Blichert argued, was a rape revenge fantasy in disguise, a scathingly sharp, smart look at “abuse, empowerment, and accountability” that anticipated the #MeToo era, and one that was torpedoed in 2009 by knee-jerk misogyny toward Cody and Fox. “Viewing the film nearly a decade after its release feels like experiencing the beginning of something that hadn’t quite taken form yet,” said Refinery29 in August. “As it is, one day they’ll be teaching it at the intersections of cinema studies, film theory, and women’s studies.” “I’m sure that if the film opened today, it would be a sleeper hit,” said Horror Geek Life in February. Slowly but surely, a new consensus has started to emerge on Jennifer’s Body: 2009 just wasn’t ready for this movie. The Telegraph thinks it’s Cody’s “oddest and most intriguing work.” Syfy Wire has declared it “still socially relevant.” Now, Jennifer’s Body shows up on New York Times lists of great horror movies directed by women. Nine years later, the tables have turned. The consensus opinion on Jennifer’s Body is that it was only trying to be fun trash, and that it didn’t even clear that low bar. There were more positive reviews out there - MTV called it “brilliant” - but they were in the minority. Roger Ebert’s three-star review was one of the kinder ones: While he didn’t think it was an interesting or important movie, “as a movie about a flesh-eating cheerleader,” he allowed, “it’s better than it has to be.” Club described it as “clever for its own sake, a showy piece of writing that doesn’t have that all-important ballast of sincerity.”Ĭody’s dialogue, said the LA Times, was “self-conscious splatter over a sorely lackluster scare flick,” and while director Karyn Kusama was able to generate “an old-fashioned same-sexploitative zing,” unfortunately, “she can’t muster up a modicum of suspense elsewhere.” The Chicago Tribune called the whole thing a “gruesome paint-by-bloody-numbers succubus story.” So when Jennifer’s Body came out, there was a ready-made narrative waiting for it: The script was trying too hard it was too sexualized, or maybe not sexy enough it was a trashy, empty B-movie with delusions of grandeur. In 2009, fresh off her Oscar win for Juno’s screenplay, Cody was considered a gimmicky one-hit wonder who was way too precious with her made-up slang, and Fox was considered a vapid Maxim cover girl best qualified to wash a car in a bikini in the Transformers movies. Jennifer’s Body had the misfortune to premiere in 2009, right at the height of simultaneous cultural backlash to Diablo Cody, who wrote the smart, sad, hyperstylized screenplay, and Megan Fox, who stars as the titular Jennifer and her body in what should have been a career-making turn. More precisely, Jennifer’s Body was always good, and everyone is just now starting to get on its level. It may have gotten a 44 percent on Rotten Tomatoes when it came out - and, even worse, a 34 percent audience rating - but the narrative is shifting: The internet is suddenly full of critics reclaiming the movie and naming it a forgotten feminist classic. Nearly 10 years after the feminist horror comedy Jennifer’s Body premiered, flopped, and was declared dead on arrival, it’s beginning to live again.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |