Lisa Frankenstein
[Blu-ray]
Look, I don’t know much about Diablo Cody, except that she’s got a niche audience. I saw Juno and thought it was fine. Just fine. I know she did Jennifer’s Body, which has a cult following. She’s also worked non-stop on movies and TV shows both as a writer and creator, so she’s the real deal, right? I think the main draw of Lisa Frankenstein is that it’s got Cody’s involvement… and that 80s aesthetic. The concept sounds cool and the writing is in good hands, so I knew I had to give this movie a fair shake.
What needs to be acknowledged right off the bat is how they nailed the casting in their leads Kathryn Newton and Liza Soberano. Newton both embodies the look and feel of the movie effortlessly as a beautiful misfit who finds herself and blossoms into a more secure young woman. She’s just fun to watch on screen, delivers a funny performance, and serves as a great anchor for this movie. Soberano plays the role of the supportive but misguided counterpart beautifully as well, and it’s good to see some love come Lisa’s way from ANYONE. Also, for such a low budget independent movie, the cinematography really looks great. Even the story stays interesting throughout and the writing can be very witty, so there’s really a lot to praise here.
Lisa Frankenstein really has a lot going for it, but unfortunately there are too many things preventing it from being a great movie. The main thing being that this movie has too many ideas and doesn’t take enough time to explore them. For example, Lisa is infatuated with this one grave, but we don’t understand why, and when the corpse comes back to life (how?), she’s fully on board with nourishing him in her closet and confiding in him, and the fact that he’s a dead rotting decomposing body never becomes an issue. Also, I’d have preferred fewer sex scenes with these kids. Yuck. Also, the 80s are just trying too hard to be a character in this movie. There’s no reason for that, and it just doesn’t work. Not that I’m THE music authority, but I don’t recognize any of these 80s deep cuts. And, the Pixies killed the 80s, man. You should know that.
The blu-ray has some cool featurettes, like behind the scenes footage, a making-of, and bloopers. That’s all you really need.
I know I ragged on Lisa Frankenstein a bit, but really, with so much going for it, it should have been a much bigger hit. I can fully imagine me rewatching this movie and discovering new things to love about it every time. What’s wrong with you people?
