Lisa Frankenstein: Awkward, Stitched Together, and Very Charming

Growing up, the coffee shop near my house had a display by the register with a red-colored section reading "causes cancer" and a green-colored section reading "cures cancer." Every few weeks, news clippings about coffee causing or curing cancer would be added to their respective categories, changing out as new research came to light. Diablo Cody's career has followed a similar trajectory as that little fluctuating display—she's beloved one year, hated the next. Her debut screenplay Juno received a rave review from Roger Ebert, while Jennifer’s Body, currently undergoing a critical reevaluation, was largely bashed on release. 

Where are we now in the cycle? After praise for Young Adult, some TV writing, and a subdued reaction to Tully, I think the spinner has flipped back to a Cody renaissance, at least based on the prominence of her name in the marketing for Lisa Frankenstein. But Lisa Frankenstein is not Diablo Cody’s film. No, this is Kathryn Newton's film. She is both the star and a star as Lisa Swallows, a social outcast dealing with a new school, an evil stepmother, and a good stepsister following her birth mother's brutal death at the hands of an ax murderer. 

As you might expect, Lisa has some trouble making friends and connecting with people, preferring to spend her time in Bachelor's Grove, a cemetery containing the most eligible—and deceased—men in town. After a lightning storm resurrects her favorite gravestone inhabitant (a blessedly mute Cole Sprouse), Lisa gets a new best friend, a goth glow up, and the confidence to take revenge on those who've wronged her.

Newton doesn't have a look that exactly screams "social pariah," but her awkwardness in the first third of the film perfectly captures a very specific kind of weird kid. It's a delicate tightrope of a performance, introducing a believably anxious and off-putting high schooler who’s also able to rock Halloween outfits and chop off hands within a few onscreen days. It's a character arc that could easily feel jarring, but Newton manages to bring those two sides of Lisa together as a cohesive whole in a performance that enlivens the movie in general. Sprouse makes for a worthy scene partner as Lisa's resurrected boy friend (credited on IMDb as The Creature). Mute for almost the whole film, Sprouse has to overact through his zombie makeup and mask to great effect. The pair are the beating heart of the film (even if his heart isn't actually beating), and their chemistry and quiet scenes together are easily the best part of the film.

Unfortunately, like the Creature himself, the healthy parts don't always cohere into a perfect fit. Cody's dialogue is as rapid-fire and stylized as ever, but certain aspects of the plot feel, well… stitched together. A third-act revelation feels less like a twist and more like a way to keep the film's scope contained and the side characters involved. Lisa's ax-related trauma seems disconnected from her modern-day penchant for chopping in a way that feels like a missed opportunity. And where Cody was able to cannily show the way that repeated tragedies can lead to a numbing boredom in Jennifer's Body, the violence in Lisa Frankenstein feels largely removed from the teens’ day-to-day high school life. Cody is as hilarious as ever, but the script lends itself to a sugar-rush pleasure that might start to stink after the formaldehyde wears off.

But thanks to first-time director Zelda Williams, the film's fast pacing and "don't think about it too much" plotting is a blast to watch. She injects a visual flourish into moments that could easily feel rote. We're well past the point where a character's drug trip can be anything other than a visual cliche, but Williams still puts a new spin on it with a foggy tracking shot of Lisa walking home from a party. And while moments like a sex scene animated to look vaguely like A Trip to the Moon might not hit with everyone, it speaks to an ambition to give the movie its own flair.

Where will this movie land on the "Is Diablo Cody in vogue" spinner wheel? It's impossible to tell if teens who see it in 2024 will be raving about it as an underrated gem in 2034, but like Juno and Jennifer's Body, it's the perfect vehicle for a star-making performance from its lead. And, if nothing else, it's cool to see yet another film about a violent teenage girl and her monster bestie get made by a superstar writer whose name is in the trailers. Coffee cures cancer, coffee causes cancer—neither is the deciding factor for people drinking it. I'll keep lining up at the door for whatever Cody (and Newton) do next in the meantime.