When Jack Black Went To Hilarious Extremes To Master Teenage Slang For Jumanji

Sony Pictures’ Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle revived the beloved 1995 classic with a bold, modern twist—reimagining the mysterious board game as a retro-style video game that drew players directly into its world.

Instead of the jungle spilling into suburbia, this film flipped the script: the jungle consumed its players via video game. Four high school students were sucked into the game and took on avatars wildly different from their real-world selves, turning the adventure into a body-swap comedy with a digital edge.

In the movie, Dwayne Johnson embodied a socially awkward gamer trapped in a heroic explorer’s frame, while Kevin Hart portrayed a confident jock who ended up as a short, fast-talking zoologist.

But perhaps the most striking transformation belonged to Jack Black, who hilariously played Professor Shelly Oberon—the in-game persona of Bethany White, the school’s most popular and self-absorbed teenage girl, played in reality by Madison Iseman. The character twist provided ample comedic gold, with Black fully embracing the role of a teenage girl navigating a man’s body in a treacherous jungle.

Black, known for his physical comedy and high-energy performances, approached the role with unexpected precision. When asked about his preparation Fandomwire, he joked—but with notable sincerity—about his unique method: “You watch a few episodes of Teen Wolf. And you also listen to some John Mayer. Then you really start to feel it.”

With that mix of teen drama and mellow introspection, Black tapped into Bethany’s essence with surprising ease. This wasn’t entirely new territory for Black. He had previously dabbled in feminine roles through satire, most notably as Jeff Portnoy—a fictional, over-the-top movie star—in Ben Stiller’s 2008 Hollywood spoof Tropic Thunder. In that film,

Portnoy starred in a fake sequel called The Fatties: Fart 2, which included a pink-haired teenage girl among several exaggerated characters. While that portrayal leaned heavily on crude humor, Jumanji struck a balanced comedic tone, favoring character-driven laughs and identity-based confusion over bathroom gags.

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