"Mommy Dead and Dearest" is a well-edited and put together film. It tells the narrative behind the Gypsy Rose Blamchard case in a coherent way, and it introduces the viewers to most pertinent characters to try to get a complex overview of this bizarre case. The directors succeed in trying to present the case in an objective way, talking to family members, police officers, lawyers, doctors and psychologists alike, but nonetheless there is still a problematic bias in this documentary as well an odd and conflicting ambivalence, as if the filmmakers both oversimplified and overcomplicated their narrative at different turns. These insidious manipulations aggravate an otherwise technically proficient documentary, which is nonetheless likely to be one of the better ones out there. Despite the notion of a happy ending "Mommy Dead and Dearest" gives, I have a feeling there is more to complicate the story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard.
Viewers note that while Gypsy Rose Blanchard has been given ten years prison time, the man she asked to murder her mother Dee Dee for her, Nicholas Godejohn, has been given a lifetime sentence and Gypsy is effectively done with him. Psychologists interviewed within the film have given Gypsy the doubt of bein a sociopath, and while I appreciate how the filmmakers didn't shy away from that I question whether they haven't manipulated events (the family reunion with Gypsy's father) in too much favor for her. If they haven't, then just be aware that the something here is still pretty messed up, and the answer "Mommy Dead and Dearest" gives is far too pat.
Even still, "Mommy Dead and Dearest" is a well told, but probably premature documentary, and I don't believe it's the full story it is made out to be. Some kudos to the filmmakers for making some notion of possible discrepancies, apthough not going far enough in exploring them so as to feel fully fledged or complete.
Mixed feelings about this one.
