Cry-Baby

Allison & Cry-Baby get their shots.

Now if any of you fancy a darker version of 'Grease' this might be for you.

'Cry-Baby' starring Johnny Depp as the titular bad-boy is a strange film. It took me three viewings to understand it and shake the unsettling feeling I had with my initial perusals. However, during the third play of this I finally clicked with the style, tone and narrative, and obviously, from the first viewing I knew there was something there to like, otherwise I wouldn't have stuck with it a further two times.

Set during the 1950's, we see an archetypal story unfold; a good girl , Allison, finds herself pining for a life

Johnny Depp as Cry-Baby.

other than the one her uptight aunt will allow her. Enter 'drape' and all round bad egg, 'Cry-Baby' Walker. When Allison spies Cry-Baby across the street, she states in a moment of cheesy  plot driven dialogue, "I'm so tired of being good." and the rest is just as stereotypical as this brief description depicts.

However, that isn't meant as a negative criticism, rather, a praising of the wondrous job the team behind the film did of emulating and honouring the teen driven fifties film it's so desperate to be. It's easy to picture the cast of 'Rebel Without a Cause' performing some of the roles within 'Cry-Baby' with, of course, James Dean as the titular hero and Natalie Wood filling, once again, the good girl role.

As a vision of the nineteen-fifties, 'Cry-Baby' comes off leaps and bounds ahead of say, 'Grease' or, the frankly appalling, 'Deuces Wild'. The costumes, cars and sets are subtly detailed, leading to an outright excellence, and while the characters verge on the edge of caricature, it's note-worthy that each performer does an admirable job of keeping it grounded and entertaining.

Amy Locane as good girl Allison Vernon-Williams

The unsettling feeling I had, as mentioned before, during my first two screenings of this film is probably due to the fact that at some points it feels as though it's a drama, other times it feels as thought it might be a sugar-coated piece of nostalgia, such as Tom Hanks' "That Thing You Do!" (one of my favourite pop-movies, by the way), and at other moments it turns into a full musical. I've always been uneasy when I don't know what to expect in terms of the form of a film. However, it's not unpleasant, just disconcerting if you approach this film expecting one thing or another, the simple fact of the matter is that it's a bit of everything.

And that's what makes it so enjoyable. It's well worth a watch if you fancy watching Johnny Depp out Zuko John Travolta.

Until next time, keep on rockin'.