Weeds: Season One
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Movie Reviews of Weeds: Season One
Movie Review: Naughty fun laced with smarts
Summary: 5 Stars
An absolute must-buy for fans of season-length television shows on DVD. The first season of "Weeds" is funny, poignant, sexy, and intelligent, making each 27-minute or so episode fly by. Like "The Sopranos", another show about criminals attempting to shoehorn their illegal activities into otherwise normal lifestyles, "Weeds" doesn't take the obvious approach and make its storylines about learning that crime doesn't pay; rather, it takes the more realistic (some would say cynical) path, essentially saying that people are going to do what they're going to do, stopping or adapting an activity only when their livelihood or freedom is threatened.
Having said said, however, Mary-Louise Parker's drug-dealing soccer mom character, Nancy (though it's judo matches rather than soccer matches that she attends), is still generally sympathetic, seeming to have gotten into the marijuana business only to support her family after her husband's death. Not that she has any real pangs of guilt over her endeavors... in fact, she positively lights up when she figures out new and exciting ways to deal pot and stay one step ahead of "the man".
All ten episodes here are fun and involving, and go the extra mile by giving us a variety of interesting storylines outside the "Nancy dealing drugs" thing. In particular, much attention is paid to issues related to a suddenly single mother now having to be her kids' sole emotional support, not just financial support. And there's an absolutely bang-up season-ending cliff hanger, which nicely marries (some would say violently throws together) Nancy's personal life and her "dealing" life. It makes you want to pick up season two of the show immediately, which is what I did.
Season one of "Weeds" is presented on two DVDs in a cute package. There's also a handful of fun behind-the-scenes featurettes, but the contents of the shorter featurettes are pretty much duplicated scene for scene in the longer featurettes. They should have just included the longer featurettes. But that's the only quibble I have about this very entertaining set.
And if you need one more reason to purchase this first season of "Weeds"? With her alluring combination of sharp intelligence but frequent deer-in-the-headlights "what have I gotten myself into?" expressions, Mary-Louise Parker is very, very cute here.
Movie Review: Weeds - Spreading to a lawn near you
Summary: 5 Stars
This Showtime adult comedy-drama has hit its stride following a quirky and unsure starting season. The plot is simple and character driven, giving this cast a chance to shine as each episode reveals more character development and draws the viewer into the lives of these suburban slaves.
Weeds begins with the primary character, Nancy, (Mary-Louise Parker) living a upwardly mobile life which has come crashing down around her upon her husband's death. All too real, he failed to provide for this possibility - no life insurance, no financial stability aside from his obviously sufficient salary, the first episode begins after his death, and immediately puts the viewer in the spectator seat as we watch Nancy try to deal with two kids (both boys) one a teenager and one just starting middle school. She finds her house payments, car payments, maid, and lifestyle all too unaffordable, and as the pilot develops so does her temporary solution, dealing pot to her husbands friends as well as the husbands of her friends in their suburban utopia "Agrestic" CA.
As the season develops so does this fantastic character-driven Showtime Gen X soap-opera. Kevin Nealon is perfectly cast as a dope smoking city councilman, and Nancy's dealer, (played by Conrad Shepard of "40 Year Old Virgin") really stands out as his realtively minor part blooms into the most compelling relationship in a black / white friendship turn possible romance I have seen on TV. This show goes beyond a predictable comedy of errors and farce, showing the human side of suburbia and the foils and all too real human fraility behind the 100k a year salary drones who reside within. Weeds is less about pot smoking or drugs than it is about people, and its casual acceptance of 30-something mother Nancy Botwin, yuppy mom turned pot dealer by a twist of fate accurately reflects the reality of their generation's attitude toward the failed 'war on drugs' - as far as pot smoking goes (Nancy is outraged by her children's use of the same drug she deals - reflecting the hypocricy of the whole issue of drug use and the do's and dont's surrounding it) and is more about how people - trapped in a lifestyle by circumstance and inertia - survive day-by-day. I highly reccomend Weeds, it is insightful and touching, both comedy and drama, easily one of the best shows of Television.
Movie Review: The Suburban Baroness of Bud
Summary: 5 Stars
Is this the show they cancelled DEAD LIKE ME to accommodate on Showtime? If so, it wasn't a bad deal. Like DEAD LIKE ME, WEEDS starts out a little bit on the overobvious side, and "crude" isn't the word for its brand of social satire. (I will say that WEEDS does a far better job of seeming to be filmed on US soil than the Canada-centric DEAD LIKE ME.) But once you get hooked on the show, you won't be sorry you pitched in and bought the whole set of 10 episodes, because they go like wildfire, and by the time the week was up, all we had left were the sticks and stems of this boxed set, and a whole pack of memories.
Mary Louise Parker has the role of a lifetime playing the suburban mom, widowed and without funds, who turns to dealing pot to make ends meet (and more). Parker has always been a talented actress but here, the great thing is that she seems to be having fun; she's fully alive for the first time on screen. I keep thinking that eventually she and Justin Kirk are going to have to get together (he plays the ne'er do well black sheep brother of her late husband), but the show's writers have delighftully tabled this romance for now. For even if some of the individual episodes seem forced or undercooked, long term narrative arc writing is always surprising, rich. You get the feeling that the people behind the show know what they're doing. At first I was thinking, yes, it's cute for one episode, but how could a show like this be sustained? Now I don't worry about that any more. OK, I'm in the minority about Celia (Elizabeth Perkins). In my opinion, she's awful and the writing for her character is absurdly bad. To others, I know, she's a camp hoot. I hate her, her relationship with her fat little daughter, her mirror relationship with her own mother, everything is hit you over the head twice. As soon as she came on the screen I thought, "And then she'll get cancer to show she's too wound up," and next episode, she's in chemo. And by the way what happened to her older daughter, the one she sent to private school in episode one? Did they just forget about her? She's never mentioned again, it's like Richie Cunningham's brother on HAPPY DAYS, the one who went up to his room and never came back down again for the remainder of the series.
Movie Review: Weeds
Summary: 5 Stars
Weeds originally a Showtime series has made a successful transition to DVD. The series stars Mary Louise Parker as a member of an ensemble cast. In the days of telecommuniting and work from home this seems like the ultimate gig. After the untimely death of her husband, Mary Louise becomes an unwilling family head and chief breadwinner but has limited career avenues and becomes the neighborhood pervaier of marijuana. The series chronicles her education in the trade as she interacts with an intriguing variety of individuals who act as her suppliers. In several episodes she learns the all important lesson that when you place an order from your supplier that payment is due with no credit allowed since she needs to leave her Range Rover as collateral. Things seem to go well until a competitor arises who additionally is a student in the high school. The central character seems to think this will be no problem after an honest discussion but she finds that he is selling to small children. Throughout the series, she walks the proverbial tightrope by being able to separate the moral issues and the need to support her family. Early, in the series, her brother-in law arrives which initially was going to be a short visit but ends up staying longer especially after he becomes aware of her current employment. One of the things that also ties the series together is the evolution into a business including the development of a bakery as the legitimate cover, encounters with other competitors and the continual interactions with her family. While the topic is controversial and is laced with sexual content, it has an excellent cast. It should be viewed with an open mind so it should be enjoyed for its entertainment value rather than some moral statement on society.
Movie Review: One of the best shows on TV
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are a fan of marijuana (and who isn't?) and dark comedy, this is the show you've been waiting for. Arguably one of the wittiest, immoral, well-written shows on TV, Weeds captures the essence of Suburbia in a way that Desperate Housewives never can. Part of that comes from the fact that it is on Showtime and can therefore be a bit more dark in its themes and subject matter. The other part is the writing, which satirizes perfectly the inane perfectionism that drives most rich white people. The credit sequence alone does this better than any other show I've ever seen. On top of that, you've got a stellar cast of multi-layered characters getting involved in all kinds of debauchery that constantly escalates and doesn't feel "written" like most shows that seem to build arbitrarily based on the weekly whims of the writer's. Weeds feels like one big, long story segmented for TV.
Fresh, original, occasionally quite seedy, Weeds is everything that a TV show should be. Sure there are some plot-lines that are a bit familiar, but nothing too bad. Overall, the feel of the show is perfect for anyone who rolls their eyes at Desperate Housewives or other shows claiming to thoroughly lampoon modern Americana. Weeds fulfills this role with gusto and grace, keeping viewers high on its deranged spirit all the way through. It should be noted however as potent and funny as Weeds is, it is SEVERELY ADDICTING, mainly due to the fact that those shrewd writers I mentioned are highly, highly adept as providing cliff hanger endings that often seem to emerge out of nowhere but always, always, always leave you wanting more. It's just toooo good!