Friday Frolics – Movie Review – Cry-Baby with Johnny Depp

The movie ‘Cry-Baby‘ is one of my all-time favourite movies. It was released in 1990, and only a few years later, I saw it for the first time. This was around the same time as ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape‘ and ‘Edward Scissorhands,’ movies my friends and I just loved. Ever since that last movie, Johnny Depp has always been a favourite of mine.

In an interview, he said after 21 Jump Street, he would get many movie offers where ‘he was to hold a gun and fuck a girl.’ He wasn’t interested in that. Or in his words: ‘I do this at home already, so what’s the big deal?’ He wanted to play different characters, ones that would challenge him in some way. I admire him for that. Many others would have taken the easy route and made lots of money in a short period. Instead, Johnny Depp chose more challenging roles.
‘Cry-Baby’ wasn’t an obvious choice. It’s an over the top romantic musical set in the 1950s. It wasn’t a big box office success, though, over the years, it has attained a cult status.

‘The story centres on a group of delinquents who refer to themselves as “drapes” and their interaction with the rest of the town and its other subculture, the “squares”, in 1950s Baltimore, Maryland. “Cry-Baby” Walker, a drape, and Allison, a square, create upheaval and turmoil in their little town of Baltimore by breaking the subculture taboos and falling in love. The film shows what the young couple has to overcome to be together and how their actions affect the rest of the town.’ – from Wikipedia

I love everything about this movie: Johnny Depp, the other actors, the music and the weird set-up. I’ve always been drawn to alternative lifestyles, and this film shows the people in the different lifestyle have all the fun.

A couple of years ago at a sexual fair in Antwerp, I saw a girl perform a striptease on the song ‘Please, Mr Jailor,’ which I only know from this movie. It was one of the sexiest performances I’ve ever seen.

So yes, I can definitely recommend this movie. There isn’t much sex in it per se, but a lot of sexual tension throughout. And, of course, there’s a young Johnny Depp.

---