Product description

Mad Men

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Average customer rating: 4.5

Binding : DVD
EAN : 5060052415080
Label : Lions Gate Home Entertainment
Manufacturer : Lions Gate Home Entertainment
Publisher : Lions Gate Home Entertainment
Release date : 2008-06-30
Title : Mad Men
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Suitable for 15 years and over
Format : PAL
Languages : Array
Number of items : 3
Region code : 2
Running time : 592
Studio : Lions Gate Home Entertainment
Theatrical releaseDate : 2007

Customer reviews

review by: Joel_C date: 2008-10-10 rating:

Period Drama - American Style!
I'm not hugely fond of giving five star reviews - reviewers on user-content-driven sites like this site tend to over-apply it for (frankly) mediocre content, thus diluting its meaning: if the majority of items reviewed are five star-rated, what about the really good stuff, 6 stars perhaps? Top ratings should only be applied to outstanding work; conversely, only the utterly abominable should receive the very lowest scores. With all that in mind, I believe the AMC series "Mad Men" to be one of the truly exceptional - a textbook example of how to achieve excellence through quality writing, without recourse to overly-spectacular special effects, excessive violence or gimmicky high-concepts (take note, makers of Heroes).

Mad Men is a period series set in 1960, in the bustling office of fictional New York advertising firm Sterling-Cooper (the "Mad" in the title stemming from Madison Avenue, the hub of the US Advertising Industry) in an America on the verge of massive social and political change. It follows a group of characters through their daily lives as they deal with backstabbing colleagues, overbearing bosses, stagnating marriages, illicit affairs, midlife crises and philosophical ennui. Unlike a lot of the current crop of American drama series,"Mad Men" is all about people and their relationships - there aren't any moments of ludicrous action, no car crashes or explosions, no needless recourse to supernatural deus ex machina, no yawnsome " (gulp) put - the - gun... down!" scenes - just pure, unadulterated, grown-up personal drama. Each character, from the shadowy, charismatic Don Draper (a nuanced performance from John Hamm) to the naïve, idealistic Peggy Olson, is finely drawn with subtle aspects of light and shade - you won't find two-dimensional "goodies" and "baddies" here, just believable, falliable people. Equally of note is the superbly authentic production design (which surely takes its cues from the cinema) - modernist sets, mostly static camerawork (how refreshing that the shaky-shaky CSI-style camerawork is conspicuously absent) and the evocative use of period music provides an environment to get lost in.

The period setting allows a certain degree of guilty nostalgia. To a modern audience used to a contemporary culture tempered by bland political correctness, the unabashed retrograde attitudes typical of the time (casual sexism and racism, macho posturing, copious amounts of on-screen smoking and drinking) are deplorable and yet, shamefully alluring, particularly for male viewers. It's hard to imagine such dinosaur attitudes existing today so openly. Indeed, part of the appeal of "Mad Men" is the prospect of future seasons exploring how the gathering political whirlwind of the 60s blows through Sterling Cooper's offices. The subtle hints peppered throughout Season One (references to VW's seminal "Think Small" campaign, the proto-hippie beatniks Draper encounters, the scandalising divorcee Helen Bishop from down the street) suggest a world teetering on the edge of revolution, where the certainties of Eisenhower devolve into the self-doubt and instability of the Kennedy and post-Kennedy eras. It will be fascinating to see which characters thrive and which will fall by the wayside. How will they deal with challenges like the conflict in Vietnam, the Pill, civil rights or the counter-culture movement?

Who will this series appeal to? Well, viewers fed on a diet of sappy whimsy like Ally McBeal or Ugly Betty will despair of the dark tones and the lack of immediately likeable characters. 24 action junkies will have difficulty paying attention to its slow tempo (although, the series has nothing on the glacial pacing of LOST) and will be confused at the lack of obvious antagonists. At the same time, "Mad Men" thankfully avoids the corny moralising and overly-smart dialogue of the likes of The West Wing or the short-lived Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip: in short this could be the best series in recent memory to appear on the small screen. As such, I have no hesitation is awarding this the maximum five star rating. Roll on Season Two!

review by: date: 2008-08-29 rating:

A stunning series!
What a stunning series! The ad men of Madison Avenue portrayed here are not people one would expect to like, given their flaws and cruelties, but this is subtle television, which draws you in and makes you want to know more about them and even sympathise with their secrets and lies.

They lead lives of wantonness and drunken chauvinism which hurts all around them. It hurts to watch the submissiveness of most of the women in the series, but change is always in the air - JFK's election year haunts much of this first series - and it's that sense of impending change that makes one want, need even, to keep watching.

Mad Men is a fascinating, thoughtful and taut portrayal of how attitudes and perceptions changed in the 1960s. The production values are sumptuous, the acting and writing superb. This deserves a much better slot on the BBC when the second series is aired. In the meantime, I cannot recommend the DVDs highly enough!

review by: date: 2008-08-08 rating:

Mesmerising TV
This is a fascinating series. It initially focuses solely on an elusive ad man, Don Draper, his work and family life. But gradually the focus spreads to all those he works with and particularly, his wife. The acting, writing and directing is superb, mature and subtle. Each episode is like a brilliant play, gradually revealing more about their lives. It explores the sexism and racism of the age, with hints of the changes that will occur in the years to come. Stands out against the fast paced TV programmes that are so popular. This is intelligent, thoughtful. And it looks fabulous as well.

review by: toolittletime date: 2008-08-06 rating:

Loks great, and you'll have plenty of time to appreciate that.
Got to agree with a lot of what's been written already. For a start, it look stunning! But it's just as well: the plot's slow. Very. The characters are brilliant, as it the scripting and acting. But nothing much ever seems to happen. It's not going to have you sitting on the edge of your seat or wondering what's going to happen next where you're day dreaming at work. But it says a lot that despite this, it's perfectly enjoyable.

A great insight into the world of the mad men of the 60's, and beautifully executed for what it is, but not a series you'll be talking about a couple of years after you watch it.

review by: date: 2008-08-01 rating:

Nothing happens
I started to watch this on BBC4 and the first episode was quite good............. However that was it. Nothing else happened for the rest of the series.

When i first saw it advertised it was being compaired to "The Sopranos" because it was written and directed by Matthew Weiner, the two have nothing at all in common (you may as well compair "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and "James Bond" who were both written by Ian Flemming).

It did however have some good points, the cast and script were good and it was nicly filmed.

If your looking for something where not alot happens and it just plods along then this maybe for you but it really wasn't my sort of thing.

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