FanUnity B(uzz)log

Pleasantville is a rare instance where the special effects serve to further the narrative and server a purpose more than just as window dressing for the story. Writer/director Gary Ross creates a wonderfully engaging modern-day fairy tale with a simple yet compelling story and capable supporting cast.

David (Tobey Maguire) is your typical highschool geek, socially inept and unfulfilled with a lonely mother. He finds escape from his drudgery with a 50’s black & white TV show, Pleasantville, who�s characters lead problem-free happy lives. His sister Jennifer is ditzy oversexed blond looking for fulfillment by marking as many notches on her headboard as she can. An all-night marathon of Pleasantville has David all stoked for a relaxing evening until Jennifer demands use of the TV for her date. The two fight over the remote, and when they end up breaking it, a mysteriously creepy Don Knotts appears to replace it. Without so much as a question, they accept the strange remote and continue to fight for control of the TV until they’re suddenly sucked into the world of Pleasantville. Yes I know, the setup for the story is practically paper thin, but it’s at this point where the film gets into gear. While they both want to get back to their world, they are stuck there for the foreseeable future, and try to blend in. David finds it easy to live in this world which he knows so well while Jennifer feels as though she has entered hell itself. Of course his perfect world is upturned when Jennifer introduces some of the townsfolk to sex and ideas outside the 50’s family values of the townsfolk. Feeling she is corrupting these people he tries to stop her, but slowly the effects become more and more noticeable. In a parallel to Adam & Eve, once Pleasantville’s characters are exposed to a level of awareness they hadn’t known before by David and Jennifer, a whole new world that is both pleasant and unpleasant begins to unravel around them, becoming one of color. The wholly wholesome world they knew is surplanted by one of endless possiblities both good and bad, Not only do they l earn about passion and love, but also cruelty and hate. While the film is largely a comedy, it attempts to tackle some lofty ideas and does so in a very awkward and heavy-handed manner.

Story issues aside, the cast is top notch with Joan Allen and William H. Macy as the main wife and husband characters of the TV world who find their “perfect” marriage straining as the world begins to change around them. Jeff Daniels turns in a surprisingly good performance as a soda shop owner looking for more outside his daily routine. The transition of two dimensional 50’s TV stereotypes to fleshed out compelling characters is one of Pleasantville’s strong points. Tobey Maguire fits perfectly in his pre-Spiderman role as an awkward teen striving for more in life.

While one of the biggest attractions of the film is the play between color and black and white, it doesn’t distract one from the story, but is a key element to the story itself. The use of color is so sparsely used for most of the movie that when it is used it appears so striking, making the “black and white into color” is not just solely a gimmick for the movie, but a completely applicable form of symbolism.

What begins as a fish out of water story quickly evolves into a somewhat more intricate film. While the movie’s particular handling of the issues of racism and personal enlightenment are done with sledgehammer delicacy, most of this film is wonderfully crafted and highly entertaining.

3.5/5 Stars.

–Andrew Parmet