Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

lucynewson-34503 Different to any crime documentaries that I have seen, unusual due to the murderer is framed as the victim (Gypsy). Understandably Gypsy is a victim due to her mistreatment from her mother. The documentary explores Gypsy's child abuse and taught me about Gypsy's mother Munchausen by Proxy syndrome. Honestly the most engaging documentary that I have watched.

doggie-24384 I wonder what health problems she might have from taking and that medication over the years, she will not get good meal while she's in prisonI wish Erin Lee Carr or someone with this much talent would do a documentary on the Jerry Sandusky case and show how much this guy was railroaded

calvinnme Gypsy Rose was the only child of Dee Dee Blancharde, a master manipulator and sociopath who apparently learned, maybe inherited those traits from her own mother. She fed Round-up to her grandmother, who managed to survive, may have possibly starved her own mother to death when she got to be too big of a medical burden, and got pregnant by a 17 year old boy when she was 24. If the sexes had been reversed she might have gone to jail or at least been registered as a sex offender. Instead, Rod Blancharde married her. But Dee Dee was too dark for the minor with her tales of witchcraft and her pet tarantula, and the marriage did not last long.So why are we here? In 2015 Gypsy Rose Blancharde arranged to have her boyfriend kill her mother as she slept, and then they celebrated with sex in the same house as the corpse and then stole Dee Dee's money - about 5K lying around the house - and went back to Wisconsin to live with the boy's folks. The police quickly figured out what happened, because Gypsy and her boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, both left a trail a mile wide on Facebook about their exploits. At first the police thought this was a boiler plate murder situation - daughter and mother fight, daughter solicits the help of the boyfriend to kill mom, sociopath daughter and boyfriend go out and celebrate with mom's money. Thus Gypsy was initially charged with first degree murder.But then a closer look revealed that Gypsy was as much a victim as anybody. Since birth Dee Dee Blancharde had used her daughter to get money and attention by claiming she had multiple illnesses - muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, cancer, and gastrointestinal problems that required a feeding tube into which meds for all of the illnesses I just mentioned were pumped. Gypsy never went to school, never had any kind of relationship with anybody except mom, and believed she had all of these illnesses except the muscular dystrophy, because she knew she could walk, but was instructed not to by mom whenever people were around. She didn't even know her true age until after the murder because she had no concept of time. If a doctor got suspicious - not too many did - Dee Dee would just switch doctors. When somebody reported possible abuse, Dee Dee sweet-talked the deputies that visited out of believing the accusations. Dee Dee even got papers drawn up saying Gypsy was incompetent, so if she had ever tried to make a break for it, mom could have the law bring her right back to mom and her prison cell.What Dee Dee did not count on was Gypsy's puberty and online access getting her involved with a member of the opposite sex, and one who had as many mental problems as Dee Dee, maybe just as evil.Given all of the mitigation - to put it mildly - the prosecution realized that Gypsy was not just another natural born killer, but really was painted into a corner, and lacked any idea of what was right or wrong because the only two people in the world she had contact with her entire life were her sexual deviant boyfriend and her sociopath mom. So what happened to Gypsy, now in the clutches of the legal system? Watch and find out.Oh, and don't be too harsh on Gypsy's dad either. He tried to be involved in her life, but Dee Dee kept close tabs on her daughter and moved her around, ultimately out of state, to minimize ties.This was a good documentary that explored all of the angles, but at any angle Dee Dee Blancharde was a monster, and like the Wicked Witch in Wizard of Oz, it is difficult to feel too sorry for her early demise. Her relatives tended to agree.

wrdsmth Documentaries, when done well, are like great theater. Count "Mommy Dead and Dearest" among one of the best ever made. It also doesn't hurt that the filmmakers have an unbelievable fascinating story to work with."Gypsy Rose" sounds like a name for the title character in some form of art. But the story of her life is a tale best left for nightmares.Just when you think that there is nothing else that could horrify or surprise you, along comes a story that turns that on its head.It is going to take me a lifetime to forget what I just watched. I also now have a new added skepticism of or society, legal and justice system- all of which dropped the ball here.Sometimes the worse solution may end up being the only solution.