Warning: major spoilers ahead!
By now, many of you have seen Lisa Frankenstein, the newest coming of rage story from Academy Award winning screenplay writer Diablo Cody. With Zelda Williams making her feature-length debut as the movie's director, the film had its red carpet premiere ahead of its February 9 release date.
What is the story of Lisa Frankenstein?
Surviving high school can be hard enough when you don't fit in—add in the trauma of witnessing your mom being axe-murdered in your living room, and it's like asking for the impossible. So when 17-year-old Lisa Swallows moves to a new town after her father's hasty remarriage, she finds solace tending to a young man's grave at an abandoned cemetery. What else can you do when your school crush doesn't know you exist, and your true love is a 19th-century dead guy buried six feet under?
Escaping from a house party humiliated and heartworn, Lisa makes a wish to be with her young man—and the universe grants it. So when the Creature turns up at her home, Lisa embarks on a quest to help him regain his humanity. After all, his makeover helped her get the attention of high school hottie, and she doesn't want to die a virgin, so he kinda did her a favor. And the keys to their success are simple: some freshly harvested body parts, plus Taffy's broken tanning bed. Surely they'll both get what they want and live happily ever after...separately...right?
Meet The Lisa Frankenstein Cast Members
Lisa Frankenstein stars Kathryn Newton (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) as the titular misunderstood character Lisa Swallows. All she wants is to survive high school and maybe go on a date with fellow poet Michael, but since when has anything gone her way?
Cole Sprouse (Riverdale) was cast as her love interest "The Creature." Part therapist, part stylist, and 100% mute, it's an interesting change from the actor's typically witty and sarcastic roles.
Liza Soberano makes her Hollywood debut as Taffy, who is all "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" to Lisa's "Freakshow" (you'll understand the reference to The Cure once you watch the movie).
Playing Liza's onscreen mom is Carla Gugino (Spy Kids, The Haunting of Hill House). As the psychiatric nurse Janet, she sees herself as a hard-working wife and mother—who are we to say otherwise?
Stranger Things' Joe Chrest is Lisa's absentminded dad and a passive husband to Janet—a bad combo when his daughter needs his support.
Meanwhile, Henry Eikenberry (HBO’s Euphoria) shows up as Lisa's "dream guy." The editor of the high school lit mag, he's quite sweet when he meets Lisa—but could she be mistaking friendliness for romantic interest?
Why you should watch Lisa Frankenstein
1. 99% of the time you think "oh, here's a trope!" but you're proven wrong.
It feels like Lisa Frankenstein was created to cancel out stereotypes. The popular cheerleader bullies her nerdy stepsister? Nope. The high school weirdo undergoes a makeover and suddenly becomes popular? Think again.
The movie keeps you on your toes from start to finish, and it'll make a fun guessing game for you and your friends—try to spot all the subverted stereotypes and movie references! We'll help you out with an initial list: think loner high school flicks, and don't forget that makeover montage.
2. The soundtrack is *killer.*
Soundtracks can make or break a movie, especially if it's used right in a particular scene. For example, Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" has been sung by countless others, but for majority of us it's forever linked to *that* Titanic scene.
In Lisa Frankenstein, the Creature plays a song for Lisa on the piano after he (spoiler alert!) regains the use of his hands. Their duet cover of "I Can't Fight This Feeling" by JoJo is a cute way of depicting the blossoming romance between Lisa and the Creature.
However, I never expected to hear "On The Wings Of Love" by Jeffrey Osborne, which served as as the film’s auditory masterstroke. NGL, we were all dying of laughter despite the heightened emotions in the climax scene.
3. There are several pieces of good advice mixed in with the witty one-liners.
"They say "Time heals all wounds" but that's a lie. Time is the wound," Lisa said while talking to The Creature. In this scenario she was describing how everyone had moved on so fast after her mother’s murder, but this can be applied to several other moments of heartbreak, like a bad break up.
Another good take? What Lisa says to the Creature after he asks her to fix his ear. "I wanna help you but Taffy says it's a waste of time to try and fix a boy. It's better to just accept a guy's flaws." Who knows, maybe the man of your dreams is unfortunately dead inside—literally!
4. Liza Soberano absolutely *shines* in her Hollywood debut.
Liza Soberano is a revelation as the "popular girl," Taffy. However, she's not your stereotypical high school cheerleader. Rather, Liza breathes life into a character that defies expectations and presents Taffy as someone who's genuine and well-meaning, if a bit naive.
"Liza had such a firm grasp on Taffy's hilarious sweetness that it helped blunt what otherwise could’ve been cruel lines." Zelda Williams says in the production notes. "One of the main love stories of this movie is Lisa realizing that she loves Taffy as a sister after fighting it for so long, and [Kathryn and Liza] truly pulled that [complex relationship dynamic] off."
For me, Liza is the true breakout star of this movie. She steals every scene she's in, and her earnest—if a bit patronizing at times—portrayal of Taffy cleverly turns the mean popular stepsister trope on its head. Taffy can be a bit much at times, but she tries—and that's more than I can say for some of the other characters (cough*Lisa's dad*cough).
In fact, she's probably one of the few who has Lisa's best interests in mind. Her delivery when describing Janet's hair to the police officer (plus the line "I tried using her new last name, her old last name, her old-old last name") is absolute perfection, no notes.
Liza more than deserves her flowers, and I can't wait to see what else she has to offer—and what more Hollywood has in store for her.
What my friend thinks about Lisa Frankenstein
"The film is fun, dark, and quite unexpected! It’s not meant to be taken seriously, for sure. I loved the cast’s comedic timing—especially Liza who had a stunning Hollywood debut. She nailed all the scenes—from the humorous ones to the gory parts! There’s chemistry between the two leads as well, and the nostalgic vibe from being set in the ‘80s just adds to the film's charm. Overall a good watch, and I’ll recommend it to my friends who are looking for a good Valentine’s movie." — Cass
