Cry-Baby

John Waters is a hit and miss thing for me. What he does is what so many do: engineer the creation of a near-reality and overlay it on reality. He's best when he works directly with the notion of movies (Cecil B Demented) and songs as here. This works. Its a "Grease," better than "Grease," because its folding with reality is better engineered. Conflating the jailbreak with the viewing of a horror movie, the appearance of hatchetface (an ugly girl) and the escape across town of children from the orphanage — all to 50's music — is a stroke of cinematic genius. Next, Ricki Lake gives birth in the back of a car speeding in a game of piggyback chicken... The greasers here are called "drapes;" now who would ever think of that? Compare this to his similar attempt using sex. What a disaster. Here, he gets to leverage 65 years of experimenting with how music IN a story overlaps with music over the story. Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

There's really nothing wrong with this film. It's funny, it's fun, and it's got a cameo of Willem Dafoe. With Johnny Depp as the star, what else could you want? Apart from being a satire, it's an entertaining and hysterical, relatable satire. It takes a lot of skill to take a concept that could so easily teeter from funny to ridiculous, and while certain parts of the film seem to be heading towards that thin barrier, they always save face at the last minute. The movie doesn't just ride on Johnny Depp's talent, either. Every member of the cast displays a genuine understanding of the somewhat SNL-esque humour required to make everything work. I've yet to meet someone face to face that has not seen this movie and truly enjoyed it for what it is: something wonderful.

I first saw this movie on TV and then just HAD to get it on video. It's a brilliant send-up of the Grease story and Johnny Depp is perfectly cast in the James Dean-type role as a juvinile dilinquent who falls for a square. It's very funny and all the songs are great! Turn up the volume especially on 'Cry Baby'!

I admit, on first hearing about this film even I (the major Johnny Depp fan) was a bit skeptical to view it. But, I figured, hey, it's JD, why not? And, I now must say, that is goes down as one of my favorite movies. Why? because it's an amazing spoof my John Waters. As a lover of old musicals from the 50s and 60s, it's just amusing to watch a spoof of them, especially one done so well as this. My fav scene (don't worry..no spoilers..) is one where Crybaby (JD) performs a song in a comedic Elvis Presley fashion, which shows how dynamic JD is as an actor. what else makes this movie great? The music. There's not one boring song where you feel like it'll never end, because you don't want it to end. (yes, i own the soundtrack..i'm pathetic, i know). It's just a great movie..well, if you like a musical that spoofs other musicals.