Weeds

R

1987

1 hr. 55 min.

Drama

List

71%

7 Reviews

Tomatometer

54%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

After his many suicide attempts are thwarted, San Quentin lifer Lee Umstetter (Nick Nolte) finds his personal redemption when a traveling theater group stages a performance at the prison. Motivated to write and direct his own play with his fellow prisoners, Lee is discovered by a sympathetic newspaper critic (Rita Taggart), whose advocacy leads to his release. Forming his own theater troupe with other former inmates, Lee finds that life on the outside isn't as easy as he had expected.

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steve d

The performances are the only thing I cared about.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

San Quentin prisoner writes play and gets paroled with help of local film critic before taking his show on the road on the outside with the original prison cast. Decent enough, has the feel of a film the critics will enjoy more than the average audience.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Liberal bullshit -- much?

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Weeds (John D. Hancock, 1987) [originally posted 22Feb2000] Rent. Go rent now. You've all heard me expound on my theory that every bad actor gets one good movie? This is Nick Nolte's. For once, his scenery-chewing doesn't detract from the film. To help him out, Hancock put together a really good ensemble cast of rising stars, most of whose stars have now long risen (Ernie Hudson, William Forsythe, Joe Mantegna, Lane Smith, et al.). If you can buy the basic premise (and I think it's based on a true story, so that shouldn't be terribly hard), it's a hell of an enjoyable film. *** 1/2

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I got a kick out of it

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

good prison movie!!!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

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John D. Hancock

Director

Nick Nolte

Lee Umstetter

Rita Taggart

Lillian Bingington

Lane Smith

Claude

William Forsythe

Burt the Booster

John Toles-Bey

Navarro

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Weeds tells a story as old as the movies -- the rags-to-riches saga of a troupe of theatrical amateurs who bring their show to Broadway -- but it tells it with such a distinctive style, such a curious mixture of pathos and offhand wit, that it works.

Rated: 3/4

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Michael Bronski

Gay Community News (Boston)

The trouble with the film is that it cannot decide how seriously to address the realities of prison life and its effects upon the men.

Aug 30, 2022

Full Review

Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

Its so atypical, so idiosyncratic, so abnormal that it's to be respected for its audacity to stand out, and come out with a result completely contrary to what the spectator expected. [Full review in Spanish]

Jun 14, 2022

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: B

Jun 15, 2005

Full Review

Carol Cling

Las Vegas Review-Journal

Rated: 4/5

Aug 22, 2003

Full Review

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Rated: 2/5

Jul 26, 2002

Full Review

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Synopsis

After his many suicide attempts are thwarted, San Quentin lifer Lee Umstetter (Nick Nolte) finds his personal redemption when a traveling theater group stages a performance at the prison. Motivated to write and direct his own play with his fellow prisoners, Lee is discovered by a sympathetic newspaper critic (Rita Taggart), whose advocacy leads to his release. Forming his own theater troupe with other former inmates, Lee finds that life on the outside isn't as easy as he had expected.

Director: John D. Hancock
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.5M
Sound Mix: Stereo, Surround