Following an Oscar win for her Juno screenplay, Diablo Cody went on to create The United States of Tara, an immensley entertaining HBO show that just earned star Toni Collette an Emmy. How do you follow that? With a horror movie of course.

In Jennifer's Body, Megan Fox plays a teenager named--you guessed it--Jennifer. While at a local bar with her her nerdy girlfriend Needy (Mamma Mia's Amanda Seyfried), Jennifer is bewitched by a top of the charts emo band called Low Shoulder. The band takes a liking to Jennifer, and without missing a beat, the mischievious teen jumps in the band's van leaving a helpless Needy to fend for herself. Later that evening, a bloodied Jennifer shows up at Needy's house. Only she's not the same Jennifer. Before long, this altered teen becomes a man eater--literally!

Diablo Cody writes really colorful dialogue, and while quite bit of the word play in Jennifer's Body is clever, it tends to be a little too clever. To the point of labored. Furthermore, the blending of comedy and horror doesn't quite work. A shame too because this movie could have been much more entertaining than it actually is. Too many missed opportunities. Cody sets up situations that never materialize. Take for instance the final act of the movie. It had the potential to be the greatest cinematic prom sequence since Carrie, but for whatever reason, Cody decided to shift the action to an alternate location. I suppose there's something to be said for a screenwriter ditching cliches (especially in the horror genre), but not when the cliches are infinitely more interesting.

The performances are somewhat lively. Fox isn't exactly a revelation, and while this is a cartoonish portrayal, that's clearly how the role was supposed to be played. Furthermore Fox exudes gobs of sex appeal and that's why most guys are probably going to see this movie. At the very least, Fox puts forth a much stronger effort here than she did in the Transformers movies. Ironically though, for a film called Jennifer's Body, we're treated to very little of her actual body. This may disappoint the fan boys strictly there to see Fox drop trou. In a strange way, this is one of the things I rather admired about the film. I also enjoyed Amanda Seyfried's performance as Needy although I didn't buy into her friendship with Jennifer. Their much talked about screen kiss was pretty cool though. Rounding out the cast are entertaining turns by Adam Brody as the cocky Low Shoulder front man, and J.K. Simmons as an odd high school teacher with long hair.

There were certainly fun elements throughout Jennifer's Body, but the film would have been stronger had there been a character that felt remotely real. Cody opts to take the campy route virtually every step of the way. Even a pivotal scene between Jennifer and
Low Shoulder is played for laughs. I suppose I thought that perhaps Cody would give us real tormented teens and put them in a schlocky horror scenario. Instead, Cody gave us cartoonish, superficial teens in a schlocky horror scenario.

Jennifer's Body isn't a bad movie but it is a disappointing one. If you want to see a stronger horror film set to the back drop of high school, check out the underrated Ginger Snaps. The dialogue in that picture might not be as colorful as it is here, but ultimately, its a better movie.