Gypsy 83

Gypsy (Sara Rue) is a 20-something girl working a dead-end job in an Ohio suburb, where she lives with her clueless but loving father (John Doe, of seminal punk band X). Her best friend, Clive (Kett Turton), is a creative gothy teen in the process of coming-out. They share the bond of having lost their mothers as young children, having replaced them in their minds with everyone's favorite fabulous surrogate godmother: Stevie Nicks! When they find out about NYC's "Night of 1,000 Stevies" they decide to put their lives on hold, skip town, and road-trip it so Gypsy can compete in the karaoke contest and maybe meet her musician mother.

The trailer for this movie was lame, and I'll admit I only rented it because I'm a Stevie fan and I always wanted to check out Night of 1000 Stevies. As I watched the opening scene (which was used in the trailer), I was expecting a silly popcorn flick. It quickly became evident that this was not a typical "coming of age" movie. In fact, "Gypsy 83" ended up being the most original, heartfelt, and well-scripted coming-of-age movies since 1997's "All Over Me."

The characterization is nothing short of brilliant. This is one of those rare films that makes you really fall in love with the characters, despite their shortcomings. Gypsy and Clive are complex characters and far from being the archetypes usually found in this genre. The story revolves partly around their relationship, and it is an honest portrayal of a "straight-girl/gay-boy" relationship that goes beyond the sexist and homophobic notion of the "faghag." On their trip, they bump into a handful of colorful characters that are catalysts for the personal growth of the leads. These include a sexy Amish runaway (Anson Scoville), a former wannabe-pop-singer turned small-town karaoke chanteuse (the fabulously strange Karen Black), and an RV full of obnoxious hazing frat boys.

The writing is clever and original. Gypsy's tough-as-nails comebacks ("try being a freak in the real world, you catty c*nts!" to a bunch of gay goth boys in NYC) make her an admirable character that is easy to root for. While the "gothness" of the movie seems off-putting at first, it is actually used in a clever and unique way. Instead of using it to be scary or to stand-out (a la The "Craft"), this movie uses it to illustrate the personal changes the characters undergo. There are a couple scenes that are a bit absurd, such as when they camp out at a rest stop, light a bunch of candles, and drink absinthe. But this is forgiven as it is a set-up for two very sensitive and well-written scenes.

Music is also a key element used to illustrate Gypsy's coming-of-age. In the beginning of the movie, we see her singing a song from her parents' old band. We later learn that Gypsy's mother, Velvet, taught her to play and sing Stevie Nicks songs when she was a little girl. The soundtrack is killer. There is little Stevie music. Likely due to copyright issues, all we get are remixes and karaoke renditions of "Talk to Me." There are classic songs by The Cure, a sexy siren song sung by Karen Black, and an achingly gorgeous original by Sara Rue (who rather sounds like a young Stevie but has a voice all her own).

Like the equally brilliant "All Over Me" before it, the lead characters face brutal situations, as well as amazingly happy situations. While not as bleak as that movie, "Gypsy 83" is a beautiful film about accepting and loving yourself and coming to terms with tragic events from your past. Sometimes cheesy but never cliché, this is not a condescending coming-of-age film. And hey, any movie that uses "twirling like Stevie" as a metaphor is brilliant indeed! My Rating: 10/10.

This movie is REALLY cute. It's sort of a coming-of-age film which covers love, loss and sexuality. I wasn't expecting much of this movie but was pleasantly surprised. It's been awhile since I've seen a movie like this, it's a refreshingly off beat, funny, romantic drama. It was unpredictable and I actually cared about the characters (a big complaint for me with today's dramas is that the characters are unlikable or uninteresting, not the case here). Kett Turton's character Clive really steals your heart. I recommend watching the deleted scenes as they showcase more of Clive's back-story and Kett's acting skills. The characters and their relationships were very realistic, which to me is vital in movies. I could relate with their behavior in their situation, unlike a lot of young-adult characters, they didn't make decisions ridiculous and stupid enough to make me hate them (the actions of teens in main-stream films such as How To Deal and the likes are so stupid they anger me if I am ever forced to watch them). For those who are interested in this movie I also highly recommend Saved! also with Kett Turton, plus Mcauly Culkin and Jena Malone.

When the lead character, 18-year-old goth boy Clive, comments that he doesn't identify with gay people because he could care less about Judy Garland and Stonewall--ouch!

I'm of the gay generation that reveres Stonewall and the gay liberation movement. We were the guys who took the lumps so that kids like Clive could say exactly that--that Stonewall is irrelevant to THEIR gay lives.

Nevertheless, I liked this movie; it's a companion piece to the director's excellent Edge of Seventeen. It's a combination road picture and coming of age story. Sure, it's flawed, but if you're like me you'd rather watched a flawed movie with gay content than a flawed movie without any. For someone my age, there were a lot of years where we didn't have access to ANY gay content.

I agree with another reviewer here that if some of the deleted material had been left in it would have helped the story line. Also, I was a little uncertain about the era until the internet crept into one scene.

The lead actors are quite good. Yaoi! Kett Turton is a cute anime boy come to life--a delectable goth/emo boy who's totally provocative and totally clueless about it. I couldn't help thinking about the straight reviewers here who commented about fast forwarding through the sex scene. I can well understand it. Turton is prettier than most girls and he makes effeminacy innocent AND sexy, something that surely could disturb some straight guys. My advice to them: have a cocktail and run that scene again.

AND--this movie's got Karen Black, that legendary train wreck you can't take your eyes off of.

I had been wanting to see this movie since I first heard it was being made. Being a huge Stevie Nicks fan, I figured there'd be something in this movie for me. I even remember when they were inviting extras to come to New York City to be in the club for filming (of course I couldn't go at the time). At any rate, this DVD is actually pretty good. I wasn't really sure how I'd like it. It does kinda remind me of my younger days of trying to find some kind of acceptance in a world full of morons. I'm from the West Virginia/Ohio area, so I could relate to the idiots that were in this movie who were so clueless that you just wanna smack the hell out of them. I was bummed that they couldn't get the rights to use Stevie's music for this movie...I think that would have made a slight difference. But with or without her music, I thought the movie was really good. I wasn't so crazy about Karen Black's character, but that's just my opinion. I think the two main characters tho, Gypsy and Clive, gave a really good performance in this. Good acting.

I stumbled upon the 2001 movie "Gypsy 83" by sheer random chance here in 2021. And since it was a movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I picked it up and gave it a shot.

And rightfully so, because "Gypsy 83" turned out to be a rather entertaining movie. I must admit that I hadn't expected it to be something in this magnitude. Writers Todd Stephens and Tim Kaltenecker definitely nailed it right on the head with the story they concocted for this movie.

The storyline is an emotional journey of growth, friendship, transitioning into adulthood, coming to terms with loss and the past, and of not being ashamed of who you are. I am sure that there are many more levels to the movie, but these are the main focus points I think. And writers Todd Stephens and Tim Kaltenecker most certainly wrote this one well.

Not only was the storyline a moving and emotional one, but the characters in the movie were also amazingly detailed and fleshed out. So writers Todd Stephens and Tim Kaltenecker came up with very real characters with dimensions, qualities, quirks, etc. And you immediately take a liking to the characters and bond with them. Thumbs up to the writers on that accomplishment.

But a movie with a great script and story is only so much without having a proper casted selected of actors and actresses to perform in the movie. And I must say that "Gypsy 83" definitely had a great ensemble of actors and actresses. Especially Sara Rue (playing Gypsy) and Birkett Turton (playing Clive), the two lead performers, they really carried the movie phenomenally well and put on very realistic and emotional performances. And it was a blast to see legendary Karen Black in the movie, just a shame she didn't have a larger role.

"Gypsy 83" was a movie that definitely entertained me genuinely, and it was a rather nice surprise of a movie - one that I am very happy that I sat down to watch.

If you haven't already seen "Gypsy 83", and if you get the chance to do so, I recommend that you spend the time to watch it, because this was a good and wholesome movie.

My rating of "Gypsy 83" lands on a seven out of ten stars.