Cry Baby (1990) DVD Reviews

Starring	Johnny Depp, Amy Locane, Susan Tyrrell, Ricki Lake
Director	John Waters
Genres	Drama, Music/Musical

Critics' reviews (6) of Cry Baby
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Jack Nicholson's first big break — and his last for some time — was gaining the title role in this low-budget contribution to the juvenile delinquency cycle of the time. Nicholson mades his film debut as the frightened teenager who shoots two bullies and barricades himself in a storeroom with hostages. The siege that follows — with police, parents and friends trying to make the essentially decent youngster surrender — is well handled by director Jus Addiss, but Nicholson's part is too underwritten for him to make much of it. The script was mainly by actor Leo Gordon, seen as a vicious onlooker, while executive producer Roger Corman also has a small role.
- Radio Times
- Posted 29 Jan 2006
An energetic and hyperactively hormonal romp through '50s kitsch from trash-master Waters. In Baltimore, 1954, the... read more on Time Out
- Time Out
- Posted 04 Nov 2008
...It's tawdry celebrity on the rampage. Waters revels in it....The wizard of odd still runs amok...
- Rolling Stone
- Posted 17 Feb 2009
Most helpful members' reviews (3) of Cry Baby
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21 out of 28 people found this review helpful

Genius!!

Cry baby is a fabulous film! a total delinquent, but inevitably misunderstood! johnny depp is gorgeous (as usual) in the title role, & ricky lake is great as his pregnant teenage sister. but 'hatchet face' steals the show as a complete grotesque. (i think she was one of the witches alongside sarah jessica parker & bette midler in hocus pocus) incredibly tongue in cheek, when cry baby tattoos a tear on his cheek as a sign that he loves the 'square' girl (i forget her name!) it's just class! gets my vote every time! marvelous!
- - Jo from Gloucestershire.
  - Posted 08 Jan 2005 01:23
6 out of 8 people found this review helpful

even JD couldn't save this

I should have paid attention to the 'crap baby' reviewer - you were SO right.
- - A customer from Kent
  - Posted 01 Jul 2006 22:47
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful

Cool

I have this on DVD, and if you are a fan of Johnny Deep, this is one you have to see.

It's set in the 50's, where you have a gang of drapes (cool gang) and the square's(not so cool) It's about them not liking each other, a great film, with great music, also stars Ricki Lake, who is great also.

Parts are sad sort of, and parts funny, just makes you want to get up and dance along to the music.

A love story that's cool.
- - Nickynic from Peterborough
  - Posted 12 Jul 2006 02:14
Most recent members' reviews (2) of Cry Baby
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4 out of 6 people found this review helpful

Cry? Not half...

Cry Baby? Crap Baby more like. Didn't even make it to 15 minutes before it was switched off.

I will be taking issue with my ex-friend that recommended this.
- - A customer from In therapy to get over this
  - Posted 21 Mar 2006 09:05
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

terrible

My daughter persuaded me to rent this as she is a Depp fan. Perhaps I wasn't in the mood it was terrible. A poor Grease imitation. Songs were awful
- - A customer from Basingstoke Hampshire
  - Posted 05 Apr 2006 19:53

21 out of 28 people found this review helpful

Genius!!

Cry baby is a fabulous film! a total delinquent, but inevitably misunderstood! johnny depp is gorgeous (as usual) in the title role, & ricky lake is great as his pregnant teenage sister. but 'hatchet face' steals the show as a complete grotesque. (i think she was one of the witches alongside sarah jessica parker & bette midler in hocus pocus) incredibly tongue in cheek, when cry baby tattoos a tear on his cheek as a sign that he loves the 'square' girl (i forget her name!) it's just class! gets my vote every time! marvelous!
- - Jo from Gloucestershire.
  - Posted 08 Jan 2005 01:23
6 out of 8 people found this review helpful

even JD couldn't save this

I should have paid attention to the 'crap baby' reviewer - you were SO right.
- - A customer from Kent
  - Posted 01 Jul 2006 22:47
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful

Cool

I have this on DVD, and if you are a fan of Johnny Deep, this is one you have to see.

It's set in the 50's, where you have a gang of drapes (cool gang) and the square's(not so cool) It's about them not liking each other, a great film, with great music, also stars Ricki Lake, who is great also.

Parts are sad sort of, and parts funny, just makes you want to get up and dance along to the music.

A love story that's cool.
- - Nickynic from Peterborough
  - Posted 12 Jul 2006 02:14
4 out of 6 people found this review helpful

Cry? Not half...

Cry Baby? Crap Baby more like. Didn't even make it to 15 minutes before it was switched off.

I will be taking issue with my ex-friend that recommended this.
- - A customer from In therapy to get over this
  - Posted 21 Mar 2006 09:05
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

terrible

My daughter persuaded me to rent this as she is a Depp fan. Perhaps I wasn't in the mood it was terrible. A poor Grease imitation. Songs were awful
- - A customer from Basingstoke Hampshire
  - Posted 05 Apr 2006 19:53
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

Oh how I laughed!

Don't take this film remotely seriously, I didn't and I thought it was one of the funniest Depp films I've seen. From the moment Cry Baby Walker appeared on the screen I was laughing like a crazy person. The songs were awesome and the best character has to be the 'square' grandmother who falls for the judge and develops 'drape' tendencies. Watch it light heartedly and enjoy some very funny characters and a lovely 1950s vibe.
- - A customer from Nottingham, England
  - Posted 09 Aug 2006 13:40
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

Cry Baby

Cry Baby is great, we've watched it with our older kids time and again, it never fails to bring a smile to your face.

Johnny Depp is brilliant, so too is the cast of oddballs like Rikki Lake, Iggy Pop, and Tracy Lords.

Depp plays the anti-hero, trailer-park trash who falls for a middle-class beauty and suffers the reaction of her class in small-town America.

Funny scenes follow one after another, Depp playing it straight while director John Waters gets good hammed-up performances from all around.

Good songs, daft dialogue and enjoyable choreography all make this a very pleasant film to watch, a far better and more adult piece of film than 'Grease' to which it is frequently compared.

The end of the film seems to drag on a little with an unnecessary game of chicken, but cannot spoil the feel-good factor.

Well worth watching and watching again.
- - A customer from Dornoch
  - Posted 02 May 2008 12:45
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful

not bad

watchable film but would have rather watched something else.
- - A customer from england
  - Posted 24 Feb 2006 unknown
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful

Don't bother

Absolute rubbish, had to turn it off in the end.
- - A customer from Wimbledon, England
  - Posted 01 Mar 2006 16:06
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful

Up there with Animal House - and a better soundtrack too!!

This is a as far from Pink Falmingos as you can get but this every inch a John Waters movie, and maybe because he's restrained here he's made the best rebel youth comedy since Animal House. A frighteningly innocent looking Johnny Depp is perfect as Cry Baby and is backed by an excellent cast including former porn starlet Traci Lords, Iggy Pop, an unrecognisable Ricki Lake and the always demented Willem Dafoe. The film is set in 50's suburbia, and Depp's badboy falls for square girl Alison leading to the inevitable run-in with the law, the squares and the classic 'chicken' showdown, all set to the best soundtrack I've heard since Chicago.

The best bit is the music - it doesn't scream 'pop culture' like Tarantino's movies but is well thought out and as part of the mood as anything crafted by Scorsese. You may not like musicals but I defy you not to dance along to 'Doing time for being young'. It's a good movie and about time it came out on DVD so enjoy!
- - A customer from London, England
  - Posted 08 Mar 2006 09:54

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Critics' reviews (6)
Jack Nicholson's first big break — and his last for some time — was gaining the title role in this low-budget contribution to the juvenile delinquency cycle of the time. Nicholson mades his film debut as the frightened teenager who shoots two bullies and barricades himself in a storeroom with hostages. The siege that follows — with police, parents and friends trying to make the essentially decent youngster surrender — is well handled by director Jus Addiss, but Nicholson's part is too underwritten for him to make much of it. The script was mainly by actor Leo Gordon, seen as a vicious onlooker, while executive producer Roger Corman also has a small role.
- Radio Times
- Posted 29 Jan 2006
An energetic and hyperactively hormonal romp through '50s kitsch from trash-master Waters. In Baltimore, 1954, the... read more on Time Out
- Time Out
- Posted 04 Nov 2008
...It's tawdry celebrity on the rampage. Waters revels in it....The wizard of odd still runs amok...
- Rolling Stone
- Posted 17 Feb 2009
[I]ts charm derives from a palpable affection for the Elvis-era mores it's sending up
- Sight and Sound
- Posted 17 Feb 2009
...Waters embellishes CRY-BABY's endless set-pieces with inimitable touches...
- USA Today
- Posted 17 Feb 2009
...Vintage trivia [turns] into crazily overblown little triumphs...
- New York Times
- Posted 17 Feb 2009