Diablo Cody is middle-aged. It’s hard not to feel a little schadenfreude upon noting that fact. For as much as I loved Juno once upon a time, I wasn’t impressed by how much Ms. Cody threw her youth in our face. I don’t like generation baiting of any kind. Hence, for now, it’s nice to know that everybody ages, including Diablo Cody. One day, I will be old (I could be there already, truth be told), and you will be old, and every pop-star, icon, influencer, and tik-tok subject will be old. One day a new audience will say, “What the Hell is ‘Baby Shark’ and why did the people then like it?” And if I’m still alive when that happens, I will smile. Diablo Cody is still a talented writer, but she can no longer be considered young, which must eat at her soul.
The unfortunately named Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton) is having a shitty high school experience. This is hardly groundbreaking material by itself; lots of high school kids are weird loners. And even ones who are not tend to have issues anyway. What sets her apart is Lisa saw her mother brutally murdered by a home invader. Such might give one a little more pause than your average teen angst. As a consequence, Lisa isn’t into the living; she likes hanging out at the cemetery, especially at the grave of a prematurely dead teen from decades past. Lisa adorns the strangely modern looking grave with little presents.
A year after the tragedy, Lisa has an evil step-mom (Carla Gugino), and nice-but-sickeningly-popular step-sister, Taffy (Liza Soberano). And the film begins with Taffy dragging Lisa the outcast to a raging kegger. It takes about 15 seconds for Lisa to be drugged and sexually assaulted, so, you know, high school. Dazed and perturbed, Lisa still -luckily- has enough wits about her to leave and hang out at the cemetery, where drugging and sexual assault are … less likely.
And then a big storm happens and the Victorian boy from the grave (Cole Sprouse) comes to life.
To quote Homer Simpson: “Good for him.”
And for a kid who died in the Victorian era, The Creature looks pretty good, I must say. Sure, “he” is missing and ear and hand, and he’s pretty ghoulish, but the guy is still intact, more or less. And this is the film: Lisa and her forbidden relationship with the new kid.
I thought Lisa Frankenstein would have more fun with either the differences between Victorian
and modern era or getting The Creature into a modern high school. Neither thing happened. The film was a great deal more about the awkward Lisa using The Creature as her own personal support group. While such a development was surprising and more micro than macro, it worked, more-or-less. The complications came when both doctor and creature realize there’s a level of, shall we say, a-moral avenging that needed to be done. Not that anybody is complaining too much; the targets kinda deserve their comeuppance.
Most black comedies these days have to announce: “I’M A BLACK COMEDY.” It’s off-putting. Lisa Frankenstein is a subtler take, much more akin to Mean Girls or Heathers than, say, Bodies Bodies Bodies or Beau Is Afraid. The result is superior. Kathryn Newton has quickly become one of my new favorites and she’s wonderful here as the weird social leper finally getting some solace. I also respect Diablo Cody for making Lisa’s step-sister likable; that seems a highly mature thing to do, Ms. Cody. Maybe middle age has made you an adult.
A teenage exile Lisa Swallows
Made friends with one living in hallows
Then he came to life
Ensuing in strife
Where the undead roam, weirdness follows
Rated PG-13, 101 Minutes
Director: Zelda Williams
Writer: Diablo Cody
Genre: Really Mean Girl?
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: How much did you hate high school?
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “She’s out of control, man.”
