Since Diablo Cody took home an Oscar for Juno in 2007, she’s written a steady string of memorable films with characters who are fragile but tough, both funny and flawed — and relatable yet larger-than-life. Her screenplay for Lisa Frankenstein is her latest creation, with a unique 80s-era spin on the classic monster tale — with an unpopular high school girl in place of the mad doctor.
Over the years, Cody’s movie and TV scripts have shown her ability to shift gears seamlessly between dark humor and emotional devastation without missing a beat. From the slow-motion self-realization of Charlize Theron’s Young Adult to the tragic twist and reveal at the end of Tully, Cody has never shied away from brutal honesty as she explores and confronts subjects others would struggle to approach.
By any measure, Cody’s career as a screenwriter has been a massive success. And yet, her bold body of work is often overlooked or undervalued when critics and fans debate the best screenwriters of the last few decades despite her Oscar win. From dark humor to emotional depth, few screenwriters have shown the range and bravery of Diablo Cody. Her complex character studies demonstrate Cody’s ability to handle sensitive issues with unblinking compassion and truth while also exposing the absurdity of their situations. When the subject of the best screenwriters of her generation comes up, Cody’s body of work speaks for itself, and her name should be among the last few standing after the debate. Here is every Diablo Cody script, ranked.
Update on February 15, 2024: With the release of Lisa Frankenstein, and to keep it fresh, this piece has been updated with more information and films by Diablo Cody and where you can watch them.
8 Paradise (2013)
Lamb (Julianne Hough) had a plane accident one year ago. She has spent her time recuperating, living in her religious community of Montana. After feeling their rules are too strict, she decides to leave and go to Las Vegas to find a new life, one where she can do anything she wants. In Vegas, she meets new people and has adventures that help her understand herself and those around her. In addition to Hough, the film also stars Russell Brand, Holly Hunter, Nick Offerman, and Octavia Spencer.
It Was the First Film Cody Directed
Paradise was Diablo Cody’s first and, for now, only attempt at directing a movie she also wrote. The film didn’t work, but that was as much a problem of the script as of the direction. The writer wanted to do something different, but this time, her unique dialogue and interesting point of view didn’t match the tone and style of the story she wanted to tell, creating a weird movie just for the sake of it. The movie was a notable misfire and can be seen as part of the reason Cody’s career took a hit. Stream on The Roku Channel
7 Ricki and the Flash (2015)
Ricki (Meryl Streep) left her family behind to pursue her dream of being a rock star. Decades later, she’s still playing but never made it big when her ex-husband asks for her help as their daughter Julie (Mamie Gummer, Streep’s real-life daughter) has tried to take her own life. This meeting allows Ricki to see her whole family again and try to make amends.
It Should’ve Been a Slam Dunk
A film with Meryl Streep, directed by Jonathan Demme (his final movie before he passed away), and with a script by Cody, should’ve been a slam dunk. Unfortunately, Ricki and the Flash did not gel with critics or audiences, even if its message about family and forgiveness is a beautiful sentiment. Cody’s script is functional and has some good ideas, but it’s more conventional than usual and lacks some of the sarcasm and volatility that made her one of the most interesting voices in film. Rent on Amazon Video, Apple TV, and Google Play Movies
6 United States of Tara (2009-2011)
Toni Collette earned a Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe Award for her portrayal of Tara, a suburban homemaker suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder, in United States of Tara. Her performance was incredible, as were the actors playing her family, as are the ones who usually suffered the consequences of living with such a unique individual. Her daughter in the show was a young Brie Larson before she became an Academy Award winner and an MCU heroine.
Cody Walked the Tightrope Between Humor and Sensitivity
Over three seasons, the show’s writer and creator, Cody was able to walk a tightrope between humor and sensitivity, presenting an ensemble comedy centered on a character with a serious mental illness. And though she claimed to have been shocked when the United States of Tara pilot was originally picked up by Showtime as a series, Cody relayed a sense of accomplishment to Vulture, saying “We made an innovative and interesting show.”
But United StatesTara hasn’t been Cody’s only foray onto the small screen. She was co-creator of Tig Notaro’s acclaimed, semi-autobiographical comedy One Mississippi, and wrote multiple episodes of Rob Corddry’s bizarre, late-night cult hit Children’s Hospital. She is also infamously wrote the famously failed CW live-action Powerpuff Girls reimagining, Powerpuff, which never made it to air. Stream on fuboTV
5 Tully (2018)
In Tully, Theron delivers a powerful, complex performance as Marlo, a mother pushed beyond her limits. It tells the story of an overwhelmed mom of three who develops a close relationship with her night nanny, Tully (Mackenzie Davis). The women’s bond deepens as Tully helps Marlo through her nights. But as the film reaches its climax and Marlo survives a car crash, there is a twist involving Tully’s true identity that turns what appears to be a rather simple character piece into a whole new direction.
A Different Point of View on the Experience of Being a Mother
Creating Tully while she herself was a new mother, Cody wrote in the Los Angeles Times that “Writing this script saved me. Tully became my Tully, my helper, a glowing, soothing presence I could return to whenever I felt overwhelmed.” This was the third movie teaming Cody with director Jason Reitman, and she comments further in the Los Angeles Times piece how Reitman “pointed out, astutely, that Tully would be the logical final installment in our (unplanned) trilogy — Juno is about being prematurely thrust into adulthood, Young Adult is about resisting adulthood, and Tully is about finding grace and acceptance in midlife.” Tully‘s final twist is the make or break it moment for audiences, and your enjoyment of it will likely depend on if you buy it but as far as we are concerned, the twist in Tully is emotionally powerful and cleverly planted throughout. Stream on Netflix
4 Young Adult (2011)
Young Adult tells the story of Mavis, a troubled writer on an ill-fated journey to try and reconnect with a high-school flame and reassemble her crumbling life. With Charlize Theron starring, Cody’s story is about owning the consequences of one’s actions and how misguided confidence can mask deeper insecurities — ultimately delaying one’s ability to mature into actual adulthood. While Mavis’ homecoming tour to break up her old boyfriend’s marriage goes from bad to worse, Cody’s script evolves the character from assured to awkward to cringe to emotionally broken before a series of confessions and epiphanies put Mavis in a position to own her life’s path and move on.
A Reaction to Keeping Up with Your Old Self
“I feel like I’m part of a generation of people who are stuck in the past and are really self-absorbed,” Cody told NPR when discussing Young Adult, “I mean, we’re actually taking pictures of ourselves and posting them on Facebook, and keeping in touch with people that should have been out of our lives 15 years ago. Obsessing over who’s getting married, who’s having kids, who’s more successful. It’s like we’re recreating high school every single day using social media. And it’s weird.” While Young Adult was seen as a bit of a disappointment at the time of its release due to it being the reteam of Cody and Reitman after the duo made Juno, like much of Cody’s work, the movie has grown with time, and more people appreciate it now than when it first came out. Stream on Prime Video
3 Lisa Frankenstein (2024)
Lisa Frankenstein
4/5
- Release Date
- February 9, 2024
- Director
- Zelda Williams
- Tagline
- Dig up someone special.
Cody’s newest script is Lisa Frankenstein. The film follows Lisa Frankenstein (Kathryn Newton) a teenager who has just moved with her father to a new town as he has fallen in love with Janet (Carla Gugino, stealing every scene she’s in). She hates school and loves hanging out at a nearby cemetery. Everything changes when a corpse (Cole Sprouse) comes back to life. Lisa helps bring the rotting corpse back to life by securing his body parts, while he helps her come out of her shell more as these two lost souls eventually find love in one another.
Diablo Cody Is Back
Diablo Cody is back as her script for this movie has a dark comedic tone, a woman protagonist, and acidic dialogue like some of her previous films (Jennifer’s Body, for example). The writer uses the Frankenstein story to tell her own story about a dissatisfied, dark teenager who feels lost and how finding love (even if it’s with a dead man) can make you accept your best and worst qualities. The cast and direction also help the movie, but what shines is Cody’s script. Lisa Frankenstein shows Cody still has it. Lisa Frankenstein is playing in theaters.
2 Jennifer’s Body (2009)
Jennifer’s Body is the goriest film Cody has written, but it also may be the funniest — as her knowing, snarky and ironic dialogue fuels every scene with memorably funny lines. A deadly fire breaks out when best friends Needy (Amanda Seyfried) and Jennifer (Megan Fox) go see a band at a local bar. They both survive, but Jennifer ends up being ritually sacrificed by the bar band in exchange for fame. As a result, a demon possesses Jennifer’s body as a vessel to consume the living in this mix of horror and high school comedy.
A Feminist Horror Film
When it was first released, Jennifer’s Body was met with mixed reviews and audiences who didn’t quite know what to make of it. Was it a comedy? Horror? In reality, Cody’s inspiration for Jennifer’s Body was pretty simple. As she explained to Vox, “I love horror. I always wanted to do something like that — a horror movie with a female protagonist and a female villain. And that was what I wrote.” With its feminist twist on conventional horror tropes, Jennifer’s Body is really a story about women’s friendship and growing into one’s own identity and sense of self. To be sure, the negative reviews and confused audiences that greeted Jennifer’s Bodyhave faded away, and the movie has now achieved bona fide cult classic status. Stream on Max
1 Juno (2007)
Juno
- Release Date
- December 5, 2007
Juno is the film that made Cody’s career and, to this day, is still her best and most iconic work. Cody’s screenplay follows Juno, a teenage girl navigating an unplanned pregnancy and making decisions in real-time as her situation develops. Juno’s path leads her to an upscale adoptive couple who seem to have their lives figured out completely, while in truth, they’re struggling to find their way the same as Juno. With a cast including Michael Cera, Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons, Jason Bateman, and Jennifer Garner, everyone in Juno seems to be making their life up as they go along.
It Earned Cody an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay
Elliot Page gave the performance of his young career in Juno, bringing the role superb comedic timing and an understated cool. And it’s Cody’s script that gives each character a distinctive, memorable voice — especially the lead. As Cody explained to Entertainment Weekly, “I saw writing this screenplay as an opportunity to create an iconic female.” Funny, touching, sad, and hopeful, Cody’s screenplay not only earned her the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, but it also opened the door for her to have an impactful career in Hollywood. For years after Juno, many movies and television shows tried to replicate Cody’s dialogue, for better or worse, but there is no denying the impact that Juno had when it came out in 2007 and still holds up to this day. All of Cody’s work will always be compared to this film, and with good reason. Stream on Hulu
Hear from Diablo Cody herself in our interview with her and director Zelda Williams about their latest film, Lisa Frankenstein.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
