- Network: HBO
- Series Premiere Date: May 15, 2017
Critic Reviews
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The story of Dee Dee Blanchard and Gypsy Rose Blanchard is compelling enough that just telling it is half the battle, but it’s the expert construction of Mommy Dead and Dearest that really makes it work.
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The strangeness of this killing speaks for itself, and the director, Erin Lee Carr, largely just lets it do so.
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With its sickly sweet flashbacks to home movies and public-event footage showing the mother-daughter duo as best friends, this slickly packaged documentary combines true-crime material with a certain tonal element of cruel domestic black comedy.
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Given Dee Dee’s continual emphasis on appearance throughout Gypsy’s life, it’s hardly surprising that we’re left with questions about Gypsy’s ultimate level of control over her own narrative; yet what’s really surprising is how easy it is to believe her when she says she misses her mother. It’s one of many contradictions and paradoxes that Carr balances throughout the film, and one of many moments that make Mommy Dead and Dearest a must-watch for any fan of true crime, or any fan of stories from the depths of the troubled South.