Pleasantville (1998)
Written & directed by Gary Ross

A while back a friend of mine told me her life story which turned out to be more interesting than expected, and I thought, if I were to make this into a movie, why here's what I'd do: I'd start out in black and white and slowly bring in bits of color to symbolize an awakening of the mind and spirit.

Whether Gary Ross intercepted that e-mail I sent to someone about this concept, or was monitoring all of my cordless phone traffic just in case I had an idea he could steal, the world may never know.

But I think we should all personally thank him for sparing us from my cumbersome vision, and for making a much lighter film rife with beautiful and magical imagery despite being, well, superficial.

Basic premise: a brother and sister are mysteriously zapped into an old b/w 50s sitcom called "Pleasantville." They bring their 90s personalities and moralities with them, which causes the perfect, simple universe of Pleasantville, USA, to change in ways both magical and pretty. As in, color.

Tobey Maguire is David/Bud, a shy "Pleasantville" obsessive. Reese Witherspoon, who unwittingly sat next to me in a local deli not long ago, is his sister Jennifer/Mary Sue, a trendy and sexually active chick who hates her brother and happens to have a hot TV date the same night David wants to watch the "Pleasantville" marathon. A contrived and offhand set of circumstances leads Don Knotts (!) to their doorstep with a magic remote, and zingo! Into TV land they go!

As David/Bud and Jennifer/Mary Sue (hereafter referred to as Bud and Mary Sue) discover the rules of Pleasantville, we are treated to some nice themes and images. Simplicity and a lack of curiosity are pretty much the way things are, but Bud and Mary Sue's very presence shakes things up and brings up sexuality, discontent, impatience, intolerance, and many other emotions both positive and negative.

And with these emotions comes increasing bits of color and changes in how the characters interact, and in the rules of the "Pleasantville" universe.

The gimmick for the most part works well. The combination of b/w and splashes of color is exceptionally pretty, especially when played off the reactions of Jeff Daniels in particular, who gives the film's best performance. There are moments of real beauty as people who once thought the world began and ended at the intersection of Main Street and Elm start to imagine a much more confused but real world without boundaries.

The film is a lot like The Truman Show, which also presented a perfect town threatened by the jaggedness of obstinate humanity, but Pleasantville is a better film. There are more people to root for, more interesting relationships, and better story development. However, after a near-perfect first half, the film loses momentum and quickly slides towards a tepid "climax."

Writer/Director Ross takes a stab at charting the course of civil discontent, with "people of color" representing the revolution while those still in b/w representing the classic white male prejudiced beast. It's a potentially brilliant metaphor executed with the utmost clumsiness. The fascist imagery of the Pleasantville Chamber of Commerce comes across as precious and forced, like, "Oh yeah, those guys are supposed to be like the Nazis or the Klan, right?" J.T. Walsh, the hardest working dead man in showbiz, plays their leader with zero effort … am I pushing it to say it was a flat b/w performance?

The emotional core is as hollow as the social commentary. We don't really care about the Joan Allen character because Joan Allen always plays Joan Allen. William Macy is predictably good in a role that could have been written stronger. Meanwhile, Maguire and Witherspoon give a strong showing but since the stakes are so low, their final scenes, which should have been heart-rending, are completely colorless.

Ross and company also squander many opportunities to push the computer effects. I wanted to see wilder transformations right there on the screen; only one character actually changes color before our very eyes, and only one big inanimate object bursts into color for us.

I mean, you're spending the cash, at least give us some truly wow-inspiring moments. Pleasantville is exactly what its name implies. I liked it, but I would have preferred Excitingsville or Amazingtown.

Review by Crimedog