Jennifer (Megan Fox) is the alpha female of her high school. She’s beautiful and a cheerleader, which makes her just about perfect. Except, of course, for the fact that she’s kind of pushy, shallow, and manipulative, but whatever. She’s gorgeous, and everyone knows it, especially Jennifer’s best friend/sidekick Needy (Amanda Seyfried). Needy’s the semi-cute smart girl, which you can tell because she’s got glasses and a slightly goofy boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons). Diablo Cody seems to be getting some serious backlash here after her success with Juno. Yes, she’s still the same person who mines her own past for her female teenage heroines. Yes, she’s still madly in love with her own dialog, which makes Kevin Smith’s films seem terse and naturalistic at times. However, despite all that, she does manage to occasionally capture some realistic teenage-sounding witticisms when she’s not trying too hard. The story here is solid, if unspectacular, and the instances of satire fit. There are some particularly funny scenes interspersed throughout the movie, and there’s a pretty keen sense of satire throughout. I’m not a fan of the framework story or the laziness of the voiceovers. Even if the movie doesn’t end at the right time, tacking on another five minutes at the end due to a second unnecessary ending, there’s enough good within the film to make up for the stylistic foibles of the Oscar-winning Cody. The use of the steady camera work helps to ground the movie when the characters start to get a little too flighty with their witty lines. There’s no overdose of visual trickery, so when scenes are supposed to be attention-grabbing, they work. After the visual excess of Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2, it’s nice to see a straight, uncomplicated horror film. A lack of crazy camera tricks makes the special effects sequences much more effective, aside from one dodgy bit of CGI that can be forgiven and is quickly forgotten. There’s not much that can be said about Megan Fox’s performance in her first big role. She doesn’t have much to do aside from vamp around, be sexy, and not stumble over her lines. Mission accomplished! I’m not a Fox fan, but I’ve got nothing bad to say about her performance here. It’s competent and it could have been a whole lot worse (and to be fair, she does some good things with her eyes). Horror comedy is a hard genre to pull off, but Jennifer’s Body is a pretty good example of what can be done with it. The balance between funny and freaky is a tough one to find, but this movie pulls it off. It’s no Shaun Of The Dead, but it’s certainly funnier than the last couple of entries in the Scary Movie franchise. US correspondent Ron Hogan isn’t a fan of Megan Fox or Diablo Cody, but he does like Amanda Seyfried and any soundtrack with Screeching Weasel. Find more by Ron at his blog, Subtle Bluntness and daily at Shaktronics and PopFi.