What happens when a ‘drape’ (a juvenile delinquent) falls in love with a ‘square’?

This is the basis for this John Waters movie, his first in the 90’s.

After the success of Hairspray, everything was thrown at Cry Baby which boasted the highest budget for one of Waters’ films so far, a subject matter that was something close to his heart and casting that was like a checklist of the very cool and very kitsch (Joe Dallesandro, Iggy Pop, Patricia Hearst, Traci Lords, David Nelson to name but a few). The biggest coup was getting heartthrob de jour Johnny Depp to star as the lead (actually miscast in my opinion. Depp isn’t rough enough).

It all sounds great, doesn’t it? And yet, there’s something about the film that means it just doesn’t quite completely work for me. Maybe it just feels too smooth for me, with some of the rougher edges gone. Near the end of the film where I could see everything was going to be tied with a huge bow, my heart sank slightly, with me thinking that this sucked instead of making my black little heart sing. This particular pudding feels massively overegged showing that you can have too much of a good thing.

There are moments that are excellent (the opening credits are hilarious as is Hatchet Face burstjng through the cinema screen showing a 3D horror film.

But as a whole, it doesn’t quite work.

2.5 out of 5 stars