Cry Baby: Director's Cut
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Movie Reviews of Cry Baby: Director's Cut
Movie Review: JOY OF LIVING
Summary: 5 Stars
Once upon a time there was a movie (or "film", since it takes itself very seriously), with a gay director and gay actors.
Gays were repressed and seen as unamerican aliens (especially by the House Committee...). They could understand and show the plight of women and minorities. James Whale had done just that in WATERLOO ROAD and ONE MORE RIVER. The master George Cukor had directed one of his masterpieces with THE MODEL AND THE MARRIAGE BROKER.It was an opportunity to show teenagers as strangers in their own country, treated as enemies, as gays were. Alas, it was all about whining, led by a cry baby, pretty long in his teenager tooth.
The adulterer cries that his wife doesn't understand him. The whining adolescents of the film whined that their parents didn't understand them.
I would call that family adultery by whining.
There was no real sens of alienation, except in a forced theatrical way.
35 years later, John Waters gives us a true masterpiece, which doesn't take itself seriously.
The situation is simple: no guilty parents. The society separates easily the upper and middle classes from the poor people.
The poor teenagers are juvenile delinquents by nature. They are very innocent here.
The action takes place in 1954, the same year that the notorious "film" was shot (released in 1955.
THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE was published in 1954, the tame but very good film was released in 1955.THE JUNGLE KIDS, also by Evan Hunter was published as a Pocket books original in July 1956. It is a heart wrenching American masterpiece. A MATTER OF CONVICTION followed in 1959 (another very good film). they deal with teenagers becoming unwilling J.D.
The unexpensive DVD is a thing of joy: very good transfer for a very good cinematography and visual style. Waters wanting to recreate the saturated colors of the mid fifties (you can watch them in Paramount films,the Jerry Lewis movies if you are not prejudiced.
It's all about what makes youth so important: joy of living, dynamism, in a latter Mickey Rooney sort of way, invention.
The songs are exciting, the choreography is stirring. Everything is perfect.
An inspired casting idea is POLLY BERGEN, still looking great, as the rich, straitlaced at first, grandmother.
She didn't act in many movies but will be remembered for KISSES FOR MY PRESIDENT 1964 (unreleased in France) where she is elected as President of the US but soon sees her kids adrift, her husband without his firm. "Fortunately",she becomes pregnant and resigns.
Sexism is not an invention by the East coast lberals.
Movie Review: Funny
Summary: 5 Stars
There are two movies that people who don't know John Waters and the types of films he normally makes always love. Cry Baby and Hairspray contain both John Water's sense of humor and style, but don't necessarily dig into the depths of depravity (like eating dog poo) some of his more subversive films do. I'm not a John Waters aficionado yet, but what I've noticed in his films is that they normally center around two opposite sides that will eventually come crashing into one another. From Hairspray to A Dirty Shame, the films do a great job of putting two sides in direct opposition to each other and then letting the fur fly.
Cry Baby is no different. In this case, the Drapes and the Squares square off (pun not-intended) with Johnny Depp's Wade and Amy Locane's Allison at the center. Basically a love story that draws on the same dichotomous split seen in Romeo and Juliet, you have the poor and rowdy meet the rich and on the surface proper. What follows is a funny and zany ride as the two sides end up colliding in a winner-take-all car chase.
The writing is sharp as is the directing. What I admire about Waters the most is his ability to create vivid characters with personality. Sometimes he relies heavily on stereotypes, but each character is his or her own. You won't ever confuse them. They stay sharp, even when the acting isn't exactly stellar. The acting, like a majority of John Water's films, is spotty. Its done in an over-the-top sort of way that you can't help but laugh at. It reminds you that this isn't real and that you shouldn't take it seriously. Water's employs not only great upcoming talent (like Depp) but also people like Hatchet Face who haven't been seen much in film since. All do a great job playing their roles; however, not all of them are good actors.
Once you look past this minor speed bump, the ride is hillarious. It, along with Hairspray, is probably the most accessible of John Water's films. It maintains his sharp satirical writing and funny dialogue, but keeps the humor bawdy but not excessive.
Movie Review: Awesome Movie Finally Gets the DVD Release It Deserves!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of my favorite movies and its arrival on DVD has had me excited for months! The DVD version is awesome with 6 minutes of extra footage and some nice features including commentary and a "Making of" featurette. The video quality is good and the audio is great, with the scenes with music obviously having some updating because the singing sounds more powerful than in the video version. Some mentioned that the synching seemed off, but I did not notice that on my version. The extra footage is great too. I just love this movie and have probably watched it 30 times or more. I can almost quote it line for line, yet it still never fails to make me laugh like crazy and sing along with the music. About the only thing I wish is that there was a scene with Allison kicking Lenora's psycho (...). LOL.
One correction to a previous reviewer. NOTHING has been cut from this version at all. Its obvious that reviewer has only seen the TV version and not the true movie version, because the scene she mentions is only shown on TV and never appeared in the VHS version (which I have watched at least 30 times). While the extra footage does include some of the stuff that gets added on the broadcast version, it is NOT the broadcast version and does not include all of them (which is probably good because some of those broadcast scenes were silly and the sing off one felt out of place when I watched the movie on TV). The extra scenes that have been added actually help clarify some things (especially Grandmother Baldwin's seeming overnight reversal of opinion on Cry-Baby) and further highlight some of the social issues/customs back then (like air raids, discouragement for "good" kids to hang out with blacks, rock music = bad people, etc).
I highly recommend getting this DVD version. If you already have the VHS version, give it to a friend and convert them to the Cry-Baby fandum. :-D And don't forget the soundtrack so you can sing along in the car!
Movie Review: Woo-Wee, you caught me in my birthday suit! Buck nekkid!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm really excited to see this great film finally make its debut on dvd; it's been a long wait.
John Waters has proven himself time and time again as America's avatar of bad taste and all things tacky, but he sidelined his more base urges for a greater good over a decade ago. Starting with Hairspray, Waters essentially re-created the American musical, and honed that to perfection with the castly underappreciated Cry-Baby. But it's not just a musical - it's also a heartfelt valentine to a simpler time, his beloved Baltimore of the late 1950's.
Depp stars as "Cry-Baby" Walker, a juvenile delinquent from the wrong side of the tracks who spends his time hanging with his gang and singing that evil rock n' roll music. He and his way of life are constantly threatened by the town 'Squares' who are both threatened and repelled by Cry-Baby and those like him.
Naturally, he falls for a Square girl and all hell breaks loose. That part of it is a simple story, and I won't waste time rehashing or giving it away here. No, what really stands out about this film is its gleeful embrace of 'white-trash culture,' its loving tribute to the great juvenile delinquent movies of the 50's and 60's, and its rambunctious energy.
As usual, Waters peppers the film with eclectic casting; Susan Tyrell, Iggy Pop, Ricki Lake, Mink Stole, Joe Dalessandro, Willem Dafoe, David Nelson (son of Ozzie), Traci Lords and Patty Hearst (yes, that Patty Hearst) are just a few of the many talents that form this wonderful ensemble cast. And of course, it's another one of Depp's great iconoclastic roles that have helped define him as one of the great idiosyncratic actors of our time.
So grab yourself an RC Cola, a Moon Pie, and put yer teeth up on the windowsill while y'all enjoy this trashy good time. You'll thank me for it and if y'all don't like it, I'll eat me a bug.
Movie Review: The Next Big Musical on Broadway?
Summary: 5 Stars
I highly recommend Cry-Baby to those who enjoy musicals and/or the work of Johnny Depp. I also recommend this movie to people who typically do not like musicals because they find musicals to be too "campy". This movie actually mocks the campiness of musicals in a light-hearted and humorous way. The music itself is rockabilly, a mix of early rock and country. The story takes place in Baltimore in the 1950's. Johnny Depp plays Wade "Cry-Baby" walker, a Drape (Baltimore's version of a Greaser) and lead singer/ guitarist of a rockabilly band. Cry-Baby and a Square named Allison, played by Amy Locane, fall in love. The problem is that Allison already has a boyfriend. Like Allison, her boyfriend is a Square and becomes very jealous of Cry-Baby. Of course, the inevitable happens: the two classes of people, the Drapes and Squares, wind up fighting. Do Cry-Baby and Allison wind up together? You'll have to watch the movie to find out! You should also check out the bonus features, which include the following: "It Came From Baltimore" (commentary from the director John Waters and the cast), optional commentary during the movie by John Waters, and deleted scenes. Caution to those who care about ratings: the "F" word is mentioned three times in non-sexual ways. There is also a lot of sexual humor, such as a scene in which couples are shown so closely that you can see all the moves they make with their tongues. In other words, this movie barely squeeked by with a PG-13 rating. Young teens might have a lot of questions about behavior and slang terms... The bonus features are definitely "R" rated. But anyway, I loved this movie and keep hearing that it will become a Broadway musical. I can't wait! Now, if only we could get Mr. Depp to go on Broadway for a season or two... Hmmm...