Review: Cry-Baby

Dir. John Waters (1990)

A square high school girl falls for a greaser in this 1950’s teeny-bopper musical. You might be forgiven for initially thinking of Grease...y’know, except for the incestuous, redneck rockabillies, the vaccine shots as thick as your wrist, and the gang whose leader is known for his ability to cry about anything, which somehow only makes him cooler. Upon closer examination, Crybaby is to Grease as Young Frankenstein is to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. 

It’s a Sherlock Holmes magnifying glass fixed on 1950s Americana, not to instigate insightful commentary but for the sole purpose of using the refracted light to burn ants on camera. There’s a bit of offhanded near-commentary on gender and racial equality, but overall the film’s focus is to have a ridiculous time. It’s sleazy, it’s trashy, and it’s surprisingly charming. As someone who generally dislikes musicals, I was surprised at how much I got into this one! The characters are off-the-wall to the max, with names like Hatchetface, Belvedere, and of course, Crybaby. 

Each character has their own strange gimmick and, so blatantly that I can only assume it's purposeful, each character is lacking in any depth whatsoever. The joy in the film doesn’t come from powerful character moments or interesting growth, but from seeing what will result when certain combinations of these oddball people are thrown together. As the backbone of a movie, this can be kind of dangerous from a structure standpoint, but Crybaby has the good sense to keep the story light and the tone stupid in order to keep it from crumbling under any real weight. The result may be all calories and no nutritional value, but boy is it delicious if you are the right kind of audience for it!

Crybaby rides the fine line between two groups of people, those who hate musicals and those who love them. It deconstructs, flogs, and mocks the very conceits upon which popular musicals often rest, while still including enough glitz, choreography, and heart to please the very people they’re poking fun at. The songs run deep within the rockabilly vein and the choreography is a pleasing mix of sarcastic and competent. If you enjoy Elvis style rock or it’s newer rockabilly offspring, then this is one soundtrack you’re going to love.

The content of the film sloshes from syrupy sweetness to sticky sleaze and back again. It delights in its excesses, yet it’s self-amusement is infectious. It’s hard to watch this movie without reacting strongly in some way. Some viewers may just be generally disgusted by the trashiness of it all. I personally couldn’t keep a smile off my face after watching it for the first time, or the second, or the third. 

In terms of content, there are allusions to sexual material, minor groping, implied nudity, some truly disgusting kissing that’s played for gross-out-laughs, light violence, and some really, really funny hard swearing. This may sound like a lot of objectionable content, but overall the film feels breezy and any bumps in the road are played for lighthearted laughs...that said, this really isn’t one for the kids and the movie goes to great lengths to make that very clear before things get going as the opening scene is a montage of high school kids getting vaccinations with wince-inducing yet comically large needles. 

Should you see Crybaby?

If you are a person who loves (or hates) musicals and who doesn’t mind intentional b-movie goofiness/sleaze, then you might really dig Crybaby. If uncomfortable visuals, situations, or cumulative objectionable content really gets under your skin, then this is one you’re better off avoiding.

-Josh Evans