SNMR 3.12: "Pleasantville"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Pleasantville" (1998, PG-13, 124 minutes), starring Tobey McGuire, Reese Witherspoon, William H. Macy, Joan Allen, Jeff Daniels, JT Walsh and Don Knotts. The film was written and directed by Gary Ross.

I've seen this film a dozen or two times in my life, and will probably see it a dozen more just 'cuz I can.

From the DVD's dust jacket:

When 90's teens David (Tobey Maguire, The Ice Storm) and Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon, Freeway) get zapped into the perfect suburbia of the black & white '50's sitcom, Pleasantville, what results is a "visionary adventure" (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone) that Siskel and Ebert give "Two big thumbs-up!" Pleasantville's perfect people include a mild mannered soda-jerk (Jeff Daniels, Dumb and Dumber), a socially repressed mom (Joan Allen, Face/Off), and a father who always knows best (William H. Macy, Fargo). But when '90's pop culture clashes with 50's family values, chaos ensues, turning the town of Pleasantville upside down and black and white into color.

From Martin and Porter's DVD & Video Guide 2007, p. 880:

This sly, provocative allegory reveals the shortcomings of 1950's style sitcom "utopias" in a manner that is subversive as the ingenious storyline. During the film's first half, you'll giggle and gasp at the execution of the witty premise: two modern day teens get zapped back into the black-and-white universe of a vintage television situation comedy where they're unable to resist "meddling" with the quaintly idealistic values found within the picture perfect setting. The film initially exaggerates these old-fashioned conventions - and it's hard not to laugh... until we see what happens when any establishment grows uneasy about change.

This is an excellent film all the way around. It's got a super cast (led by Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon with a great cameo by Don Knotts), a witty and engrossing script and is technically brilliant in it's execution. This is the last film appearance of superb character actor JT Walsh, released posthumously eight months after his death from a heart attack. This is definitely a great film to add to your collection for under $8, if you are into such things and a must rent if you're not. I'll give this movie five out of five stars.