Gypsy 83

Before goofing it up with the Another Gay Movie franchise, Todd Stephens made this slight but charming road movie, in which life lessons are learned and nothing is ever the same again after that Stevie Nicks tribute show. The show itself is the inciting incident which gets overweight misfit Gypsy (Rue) and her goth friend Clive (Turton) out of their Ohio town and off to New York City. Along the way, they hook up with an alcoholic one-hit-wonder (Black in all her scenery chewing glory), an Amish runaway and a closet case frat-boy. While the film is fairly straightforward in its style and storytelling, Stephens is clearly in love with the road and with his characters, which makes them hard to dislike. The production design and costumes are superb (often the downfall of micro-budget cinema) and the double sex scene must be the most tender ever set in a public toilet. [Lisa Bourke]