No lines, but a leading role?
That’s the perfect assignment for an actor.
For Cole Sprouse, it’s a way out of “Riverdale,” the CW series that gave him life after “Zach and Cody.”
In “Lisa Frankenstein,” the new comedy written by Oscar winner Diablo Cody, he plays a man (zombie?) brought back to life after a few good lightning jolts. He’s taken under wing by a counter-culture high school girl, Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton), who thinks he has a dreamy tombstone. She teaches him the finer points of ‘80s living (that’s the era it’s in) and dressing. Each time he’s zapped by a funky tanning bed, the monster becomes more refined.
In everything from music to gum, this is a classic wallow in the trends of the time. Unfortunately, the story that drives it isn’t exactly an Acura Integra.
Swallows, a “Breakfast Club” reject, has an evil stepmother, a popularity-crazed stepsister and a clueless dad who don’t understand who she is or what she’d want to do with a corpse.
Directed by Zelda Williams, “Lisa Frankenstein” makes great use of period pieces (including that home tanning bed) and lets Lisa try out a host of looks, right out of the era’s biggest films.
While that stepmother (deliciously played by Carla Gugino) makes no bones about her feelings, she doesn’t exactly have the upper hand in the relationship.
Sis (Liza Soberano), meanwhile, can’t quite figure out why Lisa doesn’t want to follow in her pageant footsteps. She tries to introduce her to the school’s elite but the newbie isn’t biting. And here’s where “Lisa Frankenstein” veers from its “Mean Girls” relatives: Lisa never seems unable to traverse the mine fields of high school. She walks confidently and even toys with the hottie her sister wants. Like Emma Stone in “Easy A,” she has her own agenda and isn’t about to let it fester in her trapper keeper.
The ghoulish boyfriend represents something most teen boys aren’t – insightful. As a result, death be damned, he seems like a better catch than anyone the football team could cough up.
Williams rolls through plenty of expected situations but gets to a point where it seems there is no easy exit. The film, as a result, heads where Tim Burton wouldn’t.
Newton does a fine job playing the edges and Soberano is everything you’d want out of an actress playing a role tailored for Phoebe Cates.
While Sprouse doesn’t get much in terms of dialogue (he grunts until the end), he does play into the hands of his intended. Part Edward Scissorhands, part Sweeney Todd, he’s just what a goth teen romance needs.
