Product Description

Movie DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1088 in DVD
• Brand: LIONS GATE HOME ENT.
• Released on: 2006-07-11
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 283 minutes

Amazon.com
With its fantastic comedy series Weeds, cable network Showtime finally gave up its also-ran status to HBO and found itself with a controversial, buzz-worthy show that was as hilarious as it was dark, one about a truly desperate housewife. A recent widow with two growing sons, Nancy Botwin (Golden Globe winner Mary-Louise Parker) looks like a typical resident of the affluent Southern California suburb of Agrestic. She keeps a clean, upscale house (with the help of a live-in maid), attends PTA meetings, goes to her kids' soccer games, makes frequent stops at the local coffee franchise.... and sells marijuana in order to make it all possible. Left with no way to support herself after her beloved husband's fatal heart attack, Nancy turns herself into the "suburban baroness of bud," dealing to her neighbors in the area, with the help of her supplier Heylia (Tonye Patano) and point man Conrad (Romany Malco). Nancy's clients run from the local councilman (Kevin Nealon) to the just-barely-legal students at the local community college, but many in Agrestic are still in the dark as to how she keeps her family afloat, including her best friend, the sardonic Celia (Elizabeth Perkins), a wife and mother whose blistering, withering put-downs could make Dorothy Parker cringe in fear. But like many small-business owners, Nancy yearns for more success and cash, and like her workaholic neighbors, finds keeping a balance between work life and home life to be extremely precarious at best.

While Desperate Housewives yearned to be a suburban satire with bite, Weeds was the real deal, skewering upper-middle class mores with a sharp eye, a keen wit, and a mostly forgiving heart. In episode after episode, the show's creative team (led by creator Jenji Kohan) pulled back the layers of Agrestic's superficiality to show what lies beneath the squeaky-clean exteriors and smiling faces; it turns out that hunger, fear, desire, and, yes, desperation aren't that far down. However, Weeds forsakes pulpiness and florid drama for biting yet affectionate humor--its heroine is a woman with sliding morals, but one you'll root for to the very end. The effervescent Parker, the only actress who can mix perkiness with morbidity in just the right amounts, anchored the show with her amazing turn as Nancy, who by the end of the first season had become a kind of soccer-mom version of Michael Corleone, entering a corrupt world with both trepidation and fascination--and totally enamored of the power it brought her. Also perfectly cast, Perkins found the role of a lifetime as the bitterly hilarious Celia, and entering the show in its fourth episode, Justin Kirk (Parker's co-star in Angels in America) proved to be a potent secret weapon as Nancy's brother-in-law Andy, a slacker who wasn't above peddling t-shirts to elementary school kids. As icky as these characters might appear on the surface, Weeds made them all immensely appealing and great company to be around. Don't say we didn't warn you: one hit and you'll be hooked on this show. The DVDs feature six episode commentaries with cast and crew, outtakes, original featurettes, a music video, and most enjoyably, Agrestic Herbal Recipes (for entertainment value only, we assume) and the "Smoke and Mirrors" marijuana mockumentary. --Mark Englehart

Customer Reviews

Showtime is dealing out some Weeds
If a show is dark, funny, subversive, and controversial, you know its on HBO or SHOWTIME, the only channels bold enough to have produced shows that network TV would run away from. Weeds is exactly one of those shows. A comedy about a young suburbanite mother with two kids who turns to dealing pot after her husband dies, Weeds flies directly in the face of the conventional comedy. That's what makes it such a good show. Weeds has already been picked up for a second season, so this show will be around for a while!

Nancy Botwin (Golden Globe winner Mary-Louise Parker) has a normal life as a housewife in the LA suburb of Agrestic. She has a nice husband and two wonderful kids and a slacker brother-in-law named Andy(Justin Kirk). When her husband dies suddenly, Nancy needs a way to come up with a steady income so she can support her family. So she turns to dealing pot, and becomes the pied piper to the pot smoking denizens of Agrestic, including her accountant, Doug Wilson (Kevin Nealon). So how can you be a full time dealer and mother without getting busted, without your brother-in-law horning in on the action, and how can you lecture your kids when you break the law to support them? This show explores the humor in these predicaments as well as the drama in the 10-episode First Season.

The acting in Weeds is superb. Parker was wonderful in West Wing and is even better here, and Elizabeth Perkins makes a great comeback with her role as Nancy's frenemy Celia Hodes. Kevin Nealon is hysterical as Doug, reminding people how good a comedian he really is when not starring in bad material. Like other Showtime hits, this show not only explores Nancy's life and loves, but develops dramatic arcs for the lives of the other main characters, giving the show much more depth and range.

The complete first season on 2 discs contains all 10 first season episodes with a run time of 283 minutes. There are 6 cast and crew commentaries, and several featurettes including "Smoky Snippets" and "Smoke and Mirrors: Original Marijuana Mockumentary." It is in 2.0 and 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio. Check out their website for more info. Reeommended.

A.G. Corwin
St.Louis, MO

Fun, fascinating and fearless!
The pilot opens almost mid-story it seems, acclimating you to the characters and their interpersonal dysfunctions subtlety and sparingly. The richness and vibrancy of the characters makes it "ok" that you don't get all the nitty-gritty details of why and when and how things started- you feel as if you know these people and will continue to learn about their why's, when's and how's as the "plot thickens" in season 2.

A fascinating exploration of suburban life- so common, easily identified with and yet totally beneath the surface. Of course it is dramatized, but after living in OC for over 10 years I can testify to the validity. The premise of this show is a terrific commentary on what suburbia has done to humanity as people try to make sure that all their "Little Boxes" stay the same. Our HOA recently sent letters to residents who were unfortunate enough to have brown spots in their lawns. I live in the desert and it's been unseasonably hot across the nation- but the semblance of normalcy must be protected in suburbia. They may want to worry about the growth patterns of a different type of grass in our quiet little neighborhood.

I admire the main character, Nancy, who judges none and accepts tragedy and criticism both with grace and dignity. When a fellow mom and friend attacks her parenting by citing a book on parenting she is not baited by the comment, but retorts with an amusing grin and wryly delivered, "Wow, Celia. (effective pause) I didn't know you read books." The timing and rapport between these two characters is pure magic-the steel magnolias of the "soccer mom" set.

She is a real person in a real world, as plastic as it may seem- and she makes irrational, emotional decisions; she acts impulsively and impetuously, balanced with a carefully controlled, tender-hearted, frailty which makes her all the more likable. She displays the civility so rarely seen in our barely civilized civilization, while weathering the social slings of the socialites in her society.

The supporting cast of characters provide a rich and intricate skein to weave throughout the threads of storyline, some are a skosh stereotypical but in a way that works- making them familiar. Like real people we know, all of Nancy's "people" are imperfect and interesting - making it easier to connect the dots between the (probably purposely) missing why's, when's and how's.

A must see for the open minded. Plus the special features are more interesting than most TV series' DVDs.

Refreshingly Addictive--but why no WS?
"Weeds" is excellent show with clever humor, hot social issues, and engaging characters. Some reviewers have pointed out that the characters are hypocritical and not very likeable, but that's what gives them complexity and makes them interesting. "Full House" this is not. That aside, the general tone of the series is not terribly serious, so however you feel about drugs and the actions of Nancy and the other characters, it's still a quite enjoyable and fun show.

I felt that since the producers of this DVD did not see fit to release the episodes in their original aspect ratio, that was worth knocking off a good two points. It's often easy to tell that things are framed too closely here. It's incomprehensible why they would not release the best possible version on DVD, especially when they expect people to pay for them. The set does include some interesting extras and featurettes. I also listened to all the commentaries, and what annoyed me were those of show creator Jengi Kohan--on her tracks she sounds as though she's coming out of anesthesia. I just want to scream at her "SPEAK UP!" So if you're into commentaries, pretty much skip hers (the ones for the pilot and the season finale), as "mumble mumble mumble mumble" is hardly an insight.