Tobey Maguire, Jeff Daniels, Joan Allen, William H. Macy, and Reese Witherspoon
This movie turned out to be nothing like what I expected. When I went to the theater and got my ticket for Pleasantville I figured I would see a comedy that made fun of some of the cultural differences between the 50's and the 90's, and would just be a funny little movie to relax and laugh at. Boy was I wrong, it turns out to have a lot to say about society, including segregation and freedom of speach.
Bud notices some new "coloreds" enjoying themselves
The movie started off very slow, and of course, very hard to swallow. David (Tobey Maguire) and Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon) are siblings in a broken household, and they are complete opposites. David is a quite boy with only one friend (that we see) and is, for lack of a better term, a nerd. Jennifer is popular, chases after boys and is, for lack of a better term, a slut. David's great joy is watching old 1950's sitcoms and basking in their perfect lifestyles so he can escape from his own, less then perfect one. This paricular Friday night all David wants to do is watch the "Pleasantville" marathon, however Jennifer has invited her flavor of the month over to watch a concert on MTV (along with some other plans). After breaking the remote, a mysterious TV repairman shows up (Don Knotts) and gives them a new, freaky looking remote. Again they struggle with the remote as Bud and Mary Sue Parker struggle with a transistor radio on "Pleasantville." Magically, David and Jennifer are transported into the TV show, and into black and white. They soon come to realize that they are now in Pleasantville, as Bud and Mary Sue.
Bud gives his date a colorful umbrella, what a charmer!
Not much really happens for awhile, we are just introduced to the bland world of Pleasantville, as we find out that it really isn't all that perfect. Jennifer (from now on refered to as Mary Sue) is mad because there is no social scene in the town, until she sees Skip (Paul Walker) who is the gorgeous blond captain of the basketball team, and who also has a crush on Mary Sue. So Mary Sue goes out with Skip, and takes him up to Lover's Lane where she seduces him and then all hell breaks loose. After their little rendevouz teenagers all around Pleasant began turning colors... actual colors while everyone else stays black and white. At first no one minds, but then the kids start reading and thinking for theselves, and housewives stop doing their chores. Finally the Chamber of Commerce led by Mayor Big Bob (J.T. Walsh) (I kid you not, Big Bob) starts making tons of rules against "coloreds" such as paint with colors besides black, white and grey is a crime. To protest the stupid rules, David (now Bud) and Mr. Johnson (Jeff Daniels) paint a huge colorful mural on the side of City Hall. They are brought into trial where they must defend themselves against a hostile, black and white, jury.
Bud and Mr. Johnson become part of the inquisition
The best part about Pleasantville was the visual effects. As I am sure everyone has seen in the commercials, almost the entire film is a mix of black and white backgrounds and characters interacting with colorized characters, and it provides great visual displays. But what most people didn't expect, and something I like about it, was its message. I am almost positive that the real purpose of this film was to show just how stupid segregation was (or in many cases still is) and how ignorance can breed hatred. Sounds pretty heavy for a film that looked like a light hearted little comedy in the commercials. As more and more teenagers become colored, the more and more the adults (who are still black and white, there are a couple of colored adults) start to resent and even hate them. It even borders on Nazism when the black and whites begin to burn the books out of the library because they are giving the coloreds ideas. When it gets to Bud and Mr. Johnson's trial it also becomes obvious that oppressing freedom of speech is another issue. I just thought it was cool that a movie would have such an original and fresh way of addressing an issue like this, with such a simple message. Ignorance of others leads to hatred, for no good reason. The black and white citizens didn't understand the coloreds so they resented and hated them, but for no real reason. Overall, I thought Pleasantville was a very good movie... even if it had nothing to do with what I excpected. However, if you don't like being preached to in the movie theater, I recommend you sit this one out.
