The film centers on a group of delinquent youth 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, disturb Baltimore society 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.
In Baltimore in 1954, Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker, whose ability to shed a single tear exhilarates the ladies, leads a group of "drapes". The group includes his sister Pepper, a teenage single mother of two, facially disfigured tough girl Mona "Hatchet-Face" Malnorowski and her devoted boyfriend, runaway rockabilly bass player Milton Hackett, and sexually precocious Wanda Woodward, whose post-World War II normal parents constantly embarrass her. One day after school, Allison Vernon-Williams, a beautiful upper-class girl tired of being a "square", approaches him, and the two fall in love. That same day, Cry-Baby interrupts a talent show at the R.S.V.P. Charm School run by Allison's grandmother, and introduces himself to her, though she doubts his overall motives. Cry-Baby invites Allison to a party at Turkey Point, a local hangout spot for the drapes.
Despite her grandmother's skepticism, Allison ultimately accompanies Cry-Baby to Turkey Point, where Hatchet-Face, Pepper and Wanda give her a "drape" makeover before she sings a duet onstage with him. Later, both commiserate over their shared status as orphans: he shares that his father was sentenced to the electric chair for being the "Alphabet Bomber" (a killer who bombed places in alphabetical order) along with his mother as an accomplice, while she reveals that her parents took separate flights for safety, but one time, both of their planes went down, killing them. During their conversation, Allison's jealous boyfriend, Baldwin, leads a group of fellow squares in inciting a riot, vandalizing the Drapes' cars with graffiti and setting Cry-Baby's motorcycle, which was a birthday gift from his uncle Belvedere Ricketts and grandmother Ramona Ricketts, ablaze. In court, the judge releases most of the Drapes to their parents and Allison to her grandmother, but consigns Pepper's two young children to the Chatterbox Orphanage and sentences the wrongfully blamed Cry-Baby to the Maryland Training School for Boys until his twenty-first birthday, outraging his friends and even Allison's grandmother, who is impressed by Cry-Baby's unwavering devotion to Allison.
When Lenora Frigid, who has an unrequited crush on Cry-Baby, claims to be pregnant with his child, Allison feels betrayed and tentatively returns to Baldwin and the squares, though her grandmother warns her against prematurely rushing into such a decision. Meanwhile, in the penitentiary, Cry-Baby gets a teardrop tattoo from fellow drape Dupree, explaining, "I've been hurt all my life, but real tears wash away. This one's for Allison, and I want it to last forever!" Later, Cry-Baby escapes through a grate into the prison sewer system, while Milton and Hatchet-Face purloin a helicopter, steer it into the jail yard, and scour the cell block hoping to locate and rescue Cry-Baby. Unsuccessful in doing so, they escape in a garbage collection truck. Meanwhile, Cry-Baby finally escapes the sewers, but unfortunately encounters a room full of prison guards. Elsewhere, Belvedere and Ramona assist Pepper in freeing her children, "Snare-Drum" and "Susie-Q", from the Chatterbox Orphanage, before proceeding to release all the other children too.
Eventually, after Allison performs with Baldwin and his friends at the newly constructed Enchanted Forest theme park, the Drapes and her grandmother persuade her to campaign for Cry-Baby's release. Her performance outside the jail persuades the judge, who has become romantically interested in Allison's grandmother, to release Cry-Baby. As the judge announces Cry-Baby's rehabilitation to reporters, Baldwin immediately deflates the mood by insultingly revealing that his grandfather electrocuted Cry-Baby's father. Offended and upset, Cry-Baby challenges him to a chicken race between his jalopy and Baldwin's car, under the condition that they ride on the roofs and allow their closest friends to drive. With Belvedere driving, several Drapes ride in Cry-Baby's car, while Baldwin's friends climb into his car. As the cars race towards each other, Pepper delivers an infant son in the backseat, and her boyfriend proposes to her by holding up a sign, which she happily accepts. Cry-Baby ultimately emerges victorious, as Baldwin chickens out. Dupree speeds toward him with Allison on the back of his motorcycle before slamming on the brakes, sending her somersaulting through the air into Cry-Baby's arms.
All of the spectators cry a single tear, except for Allison and Cry-Baby, who have finally progressed from the past, enabling them to cry from both eyes.
"Please, Mr. Jailer" – Allison, Cry-Baby, Company, Prisoners
"Chicken" (deleted scene) – Baldwin, the Whiffles
"High School Hellcats" – Cry-Baby, Allison, Pepper, Company
Release
Cry-Baby premiered in Baltimore on March 14, 1990, and was released on April 6.[4] It was screened out of competition at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.[5]
Reception
Box office
The film opened on April 6, 1990, in 1,229 North American theaters—an unprecedented number for a Waters film. It grossed $3,004,905 ($2,445 per screen) on its opening weekend and $8,266,343 by the end of its theatrical run,[3] against a $12 million budget.[2]
Critical response
Cry-Baby received positive reviews from critics. On the website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 72% based on 58 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "John Waters' musical ode to the teen rebel genre is infectious and gleefully camp, providing star Johnny Depp with the perfect vehicle in which to lampoon his pin-up image."[6]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[7] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.[8]Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film 3 out of 4 stars.[9]
Cry-Baby is the second of Waters' films to be adapted for the stage as a musical comedy (following Hairspray). The adaptation does not feature any of the film's songs.
