Lisa Frankenstein
Directed by Zelda Williams
Written by Diablo Cody
Starring Kathryn Newton, Liza Soberano and Cole Sprouse
Classification PG; 101 minutes
Opens in theatres Feb. 9
It used to be a rite of passage to direct a Diablo Cody movie. Jason Reitman and Karyn Kusama earned some of the biggest notices of their careers – and a place in teen movie history – after they cemented lines like “This is one doodle that can’t be un-did, Homeskillet” (Juno) and “What’s up, Vagisil?” (Jennifer’s Body) to the cinematic record.
After winning an Oscar for her very first screenplay, Cody became the rare female writer in Hollywood who can summon an entire film career with one memorable quote. While she hasn’t enjoyed the same revered success as, say, Aaron Sorkin, she has spent the past two decades stealthily working in television (The United States of Tara), on Broadway (writing the book for the Alanis Morissette musical Jagged Little Pill), while reteaming up with Reitman on the feature films Young Adult and Tully. She is also currently writing a Powerpuff Girls TV show.
This weekend, Cody returns to her rightful place on the big screen with a picture that could be the third in her “quirky goth teen movies with girl’s names” triptych. It’s a flawed but very entertaining return to form for those who may have thought Tully and Ricki and the Flash were maudlin movies for depressed moms. (I, for the record, think Young Adult is a masterpiece that should be in the Criterion Collection.)
Her perfectly named eighties horror-comedy Lisa Frankenstein also marks a promising directorial debut for Zelda Williams, the daughter of the late Robin Williams. Although far less raw and palpitating than the Juno screenplay that turned Cody into an icon almost two decades prior, Lisa Frankenstein illustrates any filmmaker’s good fortune when they get to direct a Diablo Cody script.
Somehow evoking John Hughes, Kate Bush and Tim Burton all at once, the gaggy plot of Lisa Frankenstein is the stuff that Hollywood spec scripts are made of. Ant-Man’s Kathryn Newton plays Lisa Swallows, a misunderstood goth (more Brontë sister than Lydia Deetz) living in a sardonic, pastel-soaked suburbia last seen in John Waters’ Polyester. Lisa longs for a boyfriend but can’t seem to fake the sunniness that allows her perfect cheerleader stepsister, Taffy (an excellent Liza Soberano), to thrive in their equally heinous home and high school, especially since she watched her mother get murdered in a home invasion a few months prior.
Cole Sprouse, left, stars as The Creature and Kathryn Newton as Lisa Swallows in Lisa Frankenstein.Michele K. Short/Focus Features
So Lisa pouts and reads poetry by the particularly handsome gravesite of a 19th-century hunk, until a chance electrical storm (the plot device in all high-concept comedies) unleashes a dream boyfriend from the damned. Sure, this teen boy credited as The Creature (Cole Sprouse) may be mute, rotting and undead, but at least he’s into her. Lisa stows him away in her closet until the two lovers start murdering everyone who gets in their way. Call it Bonnie and Chlamydia (a nonsensical reference that kinda sounds like a joke in a Diablo Cody movie).
But as evidenced by my lame attempt at summoning the master, it takes a very astute director to adapt a Diablo Cody movie. Fall too deep into her script’s tempting twee affectations and you lose her writing’s edge. Overplay a character’s emotional catharsis by one nose hair and that acrid comedy will become besieged by corniness. Aching sincerity plus an avalanche of irony is a tricky tonal balance for any filmmaker.
While Williams isn’t quite as adept as Cody’s other all-star collaborators, her debut film is funny, cinematic and memorable. She leans into the goth visuals while finding a fanciful, endearing edge. It helps that her formidable leading lady commits with deep affection to playing the most terrifying character of all: a goth girl who is feeling herself.
Jerking around mutely on camera while bugs and pus drop from his mouth and eyes, Riverdale’s Sprouse plays against type, I guess, in a role that’s a little thankless. But then again, Cody has always been more interested in the hearts and minds of women. Their ridiculous, outsized visions of themselves and what happens when the world tries to crush them and tell them they’re not special. It’s refreshing to see all the ways these flawed and broken teenage misfits can be heroines, too.