Review of Cry-Baby (1990) by Mickey M — 07 Mar 2013

"Allison" (Amy Locane) is an attractive Square who instantly falls for a juvenile delinquent "Wade 'Cry-Baby' Walker" when she sees him shed a single tear as he gets a shot at school and their eyes meet.

Both her grandmother (Polly Bergen) and her boyfriend (Stephen Mailer) try to keep her away from "Cry-Baby" and his gang. However, the gang accepts her to the point of giving her a "bad-girl" makeover.

After convincing the court to clear "Allison" of all chages after being taken into custody following a brawl, "Cry-Baby" is sent to jail, and a member of his gang loses custody of her (Ricki Lake) children (Jessica Raskin and Jonathan Benya). After some soul searching, "Allison" realizes just how much she cares for "Cry-Baby." She and the other (Drapes) go to the jail and put on one of many musical performance to convince the judge to release him.

There aren't any spectacular musical numbers in this movie, except for one in the jail. Nor is there good character development on the supporting cast of characters. However, there are some good, not great performances.

Johnny Depp is by far the best in the cast. He makes "Cry-Baby" quite likable and pretty campy. The rest of the cast have to work with an only fair script and poor character development.

None of the visuals are that memorable, maybe except when "Cry-Baby's" motorcycle is set on fire and is set crashing in the "Drapes" party. The fight which follows is not edited quite that well, but is decent.

There are a few comical moments that will make you chuckle out loud, but the rest of the jokes just don't work or they'll make you groan.

Director/writer John Waters does make what could be a horrible movie watchable, despite there being flaws in the script. He does make this worth taking a look at if you see it at your local rental store, but I probably wouldn't add it to my home video library.