Love You to Death

If you've never watched anything related to this story before, please don't start with this movie. It completely downplays the real story and kills every interesting part of it.

First off, I don't really understand why another adaptation to the same story was even needed to begin with - there were multiple documentaries covering it already (I recommend "Mommy Dead and Dearest" the most), as well as the drama series "The Act", all of which were much closer to the real story than this.

But if you are already making a movie that might introduce new people to the story, at least do it well. This movie was not only super different than the actual story, but has also completely cut out all of the really shocking and interesting parts of the story, some of which were very important parts of this story that were not even slightly mentioned here, making the story in the movie much more dull and boring compared to the real one. And then there are the parts of the story that were included here, but those were changed so much that they have ruined the whole build up into the finale (which as I mentioned before, was nowhere near as shocking as the real story).

This is such a poor adaptation to the story, that I feel like the only way anyone could enjoy it is if they've never heard of the story before, but if you've never watched it before, then what reason would you have to start with this failed attempt to present the story when there are so many better alternatives out there?

If they were going to change so much, I feel like they should have went completely different and do something like the movie "Run" did where it's just a complete fiction story about the same condition, but this movie was clearly trying to tell Gypsy's specific story, which is why it being done in such a poor way is so disappointing.

So as someone who is really familiar with this story and has watched anything possible related to it, I can't stress any more how much I recommend that you don't start with this movie as your introduction.

Lifetime movies seldom rise above mediocrity ("Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story" was a notable exception), but they usually have some entertainment value. This misbegotten misfire has none. The sad tale of Gypsy and Dedee Blanchard is a real-life horror story that would tax the abilities of Ann Rice or Stephen King. The subject is simply too unpleasant for a fictional treatment. Emily Skeggs is good, but Marcia Gay Harden gives a one-note performance as the mom and the rest of the cast are cyphers. Do yourself a favor and skip this turkey. Watch ID's riveting 2-part documentary "Gypsy's Revenge" instead.

This TV docudrama based on the lives of Dee Dee and Gypsy Blanchard was at times very difficult to watch. The abuse from the mother, Camille (Marcia Gay Harden), was frightening. She was very scary and relentlessly in control. And Harden was amazing as always. Emily Skeggs (Esme) did the best she could with what she had and Tate Donovan was wasted, which was too bad. What was missing in this movie was some kind of revelation as to why people suffer from Munchhausen Syndrome. It only shows the effect on Esme. Having a look inside the character of Camille might have made this a little more interesting. While definitely not a major motion picture, it was entertaining.

TV movie based on real life story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard who plotted to kill her mother who abused her through munchausens by proxy.

Though names gave been changed in this, it's very much based on the story.

So many inaccuracies and factual errors with substandard to poor acting involved, if you haven't watched the limited series The Act, go watch that for amazing acting, incredibly in depth and very factually accurate portrayal of what really happened. Nothing to see here but watered down Lifetime Movie tosh.

"Love You to Death" is a profound and powerfully disturbing movie about the relationship between Esmé Stoller (Emily Skaggs) and her mom Camile (Marcia Gay Harden, a far more illustrious "name" than we're used to seeing on Lifetime). Esmé is in a wheelchair, she's bald (there's a fascinatingly cruel scene in which we see her mom shaving her head) and she's been told she has had bone cancer since she was 4. Writer Anthony Jaswinski and director Alex Kalymnikos tell this story from both mother's and daughter's point of view, and the result is a powerful, chilling fable about just how far certain people will go to feel "loved" and "needed." I'm rating it nine stars instead of 10 because the switch from Camile's to Esmé's point of view about a third of the way through is awkward and writer Jaswinski could have had an even deeper and more profound movie if he'd used the "Citizen Kane" narratage technique and told the Stollers' story from the various points of view of the people involved in it. But that doesn't take away from what he, Kalymnikos and their stars (not only Harden and Skaggs but Brennan Keel Cook as Esmé's boyfriend Scott) achieved with a film that's excellent by any standards and especially amazing coming from Lifetime.