Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

JOHNNY DEPP – CRY BABY – 1990

A small and funny film shot in the late 1980s (1989-1990), at the end of Reagan’s era and in the middle of George Bush Senior’s regency, has no pretension except to debunk everything and everyone and make fun of a system that is as crooked as it is full of bigotry.

A remake of the Mods and the Rockers, of the Jets and the Sharks, the Montague and the Capulet, American sauce on top and whip cream to top it off and kick it up. But this multiple remake is so overloaded with clichés and prejudices that it becomes hilarious and the objective is to make us laugh at those biases and other preconceived ideas about the other group, since the whole world is nothing but A versus B.

At the same time the film debunks fake education based on square ideas being the best in the world, on some clean type of dressing being the only decent, godlike and non-obscene way of dressing, all the rest, jeans and everything else, being nothing but homosexual showing off especially for girls who are supposed to wear decent dresses.

You add a love story in that viper nest and you have a real Romeo and a genuine Juliet. But the world must have changed because the judge is falling in love with Juliet’s grandmother and he becomes sentimental and releases Romeo, alias Cry Baby. I must admit that the prison break is definitely as good as all those we were able to examine and/or supervise in the eponymous TV series. And do not forget that the best way to get out of trouble is to follow the rat. Rats are best to get out of the way, out of trouble and back to home security, I do not mean the security of your home.

The film is fabulous as for the music of the late 1950s, actually dated thanks to the evening prayer in the very special school for boys where the “boys” are supposed to thank Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. That’s cool indeed.

Be it only for the music the film is worth its eighty-two minutes, but the “dancing” and the performance of the actors, particularly the very young Johnny Depp is refreshing in this world where everything is nothing but special effect and make believe.

An excellent piece of dialogue alluding to the famous Unabomber who was definitely literate and had been avctive in the bombing business since 1978 at the time when the film was made.

Have one empathetic thought for this man who is in prison for life.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU