I’d actually really like to watch this with his commentary. But overall the film feels like a fumble for Waters, perhaps knocked a little off his game after the success of Hairspray. There are some really good bits in the movie, stuff that’s genuinely funny and entertaining. And some of the gags are kinda dumb, for example the cow that runs away when it sees Hatchet Face. No matter how much irony is involved, the Confederate flag is always going to be a sign of uncool to me. I found the “Drape” hybrid of greaser and redneck to be puzzling. There wasn’t enough joy in the film to carry the audience through. I no longer had any investment in the central romance.
Johnny Depp heads up a supercool cast as the irresistible bad boy whose amazing ability to shed one single tear drives all the girls wild - especially Allison Vernon Williams (Amy Locane), a rich, beautiful 'square' who finds herself uncontrollably drawn to the dreamy juvenile. When she so readily swallows Lenora’s story and goes running back to the Squares, I turned against her. And Wade 'Cry-Baby' Walker is the baddest hood in his high school. More problematic is Amy Locane as Allison. Depp puts some decent work into Cry-Baby, but he’s not a hero who you feel much like rooting for. The real problem, however, is that the movie isn’t lovable enough.
Likewise, the few dance numbers are pulled off well, but not especially inspired. The songs - originals and period tunes alike - are mostly pretty good, but it isn’t as strong a soundtrack as Hairspray. Most exciting is Kim McGuire, who plays “Hatchet Face” with adorable gusto and abandon.īut the movie just isn’t that endearing as a whole. The supporting cast is a delight, with players like Iggy Pop, Ricki Lake, Susan Tyrrell (who I hated in Fat City, but her often grating persona is an asset here), Traci Lords, Polly Bergen, Kim Webb, Patti Hearst, Troy Donahue, Mink Stole and Joe Dallesando all giving it their all. Ridiculous (and hilarious) lines like “Let’s all put on a folk hat and learn something about a foreign culture!” are delivered with the utmost sincerity, and everyone is thrilled to play their over-the-top parts in this farce about “juvenile delinquents”. Characters readily declare themselves as “Squares” or “Drapes” (the term used for a delinquent, for reasons I couldn’t figure out), content to box themselves into their stereotyped roles. Where this film succeeds is as a send-up of the overwrought teen melodrama of the 1950’s. While I wouldn’t call it an attempt to cash in by rehashing a successful formula, it does feel like the previous movie’s baby brother. It’s another period musical about teenagers. Coming on the heels of Hairspray, it can’t help paling in comparison. But sadly, I still feel pretty ho-hum about it. I hadn’t seen it in over 20 years, and even though my memories of it weren’t very fond, I had a lot of hope that it would be improve with a second look. Out of my John Waters rewatches, it’s the one that had the longest gap between viewings. Here's what's become of the main members of the cast since the film's release more than 30 years ago.I could cry a single tear over the fact that revisiting this film was not nearly as successful as Hairspray or Desperate Living. Johnny Depp starred as Wade Walker, also known as Cry-Baby, an emotionally anguished teenage criminal who can sing his heart out and cry a single dramatic tear - hence the nickname.Ĭry-Baby, like many of Waters' other films, became a cult classic.
CRY BABY MOVIE HATCHET FACE TV
First came the 1988 movie Hairspray, about the 1960s integration of a Baltimore teen dance TV show, followed by 1990's Cry-Baby, a parody of '50s juvenile delinquent movies. Related quizzes can be found here: Cry-Baby Quizzes There are 54 questions on this topic. Accuracy: A team of editors takes feedback from our visitors to keep trivia as up to date and as accurate as possible. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Waters and his collective of punk-like "Dreamlanders" mixed broad comedy, gross-out humor, camp, kitsch, irony, and a heavy dose of satire of mainstream American culture. 54 Cry-Baby Trivia Questions & Answers : Movies A-C This category is for trivia questions and answers related to Cry-Baby, as asked by users of. After two decades of making subversive, challenging, and often downright offensive comedies like Pink Flamingos, Desperate Living, and Multiple Maniacs, Baltimore-based filmmaker John Waters - nicknamed The Prince of Puke, The Duke of Dirt, and The Pope of Trash - finally found his sweet spot.