Pleasantville

Rating: ****
Date Seen: 1998-10-30

I imagine there's not a soul in the United States who hasn't, at one point or another, been exposed to the "Leave it to Beaver" universe; a black and white world where expressions like "swell" are commonplace, vapid lightheartedness permeates the atmosphere, and high school couples holding hands is considered risqué. Now, a pair of typical 90s teenagers are suddenly thrown into the mix. What do you have? The recipe for a great movie.

Nobody in the town of Pleasantville knows what to do with themselves; they all just have flat roles which have been given to them by the tv show. Of course, they haven't needed to do anything else. It's never even occured to Mr. Johnson (Jeff Daniels), the owner of the local restaurant hangout, that he might proceed on his own if Bud doesn't show up for work. George hasn't a clue what to do after declaring "Honey, I'm home!" and finds that his wife isn't there. The reason for all this is, of course, that Bud always comes to work exactly on time, and Betty is always at home when George arrives for supper.

When David and Jennifer magically pop in as Bud and Mary Sue, they of bring with them spontaneity and passion, things which the people of Pleasantville severely lack. (In turn, the cultural implication is that the era we know as "the 50s" was bland, superficial, and, as the movie goes on to reveal, highly repressive.) When these two outsiders introduce the concept that there exists a world outside of Pleasantville, teach locals about the concepts of making love, reading books, painting, art, music, and (gasp) masturbation, the town goes into an uproar.

Another funny thing happens. Colors begin to populate the black-and-white world. Through the visual art of mixing color and black-and-white, done to great effect, the film uses color as a metaphor for the emotional awareness of the characters. Despite its surreal storyline; in fact, I would say because of it's wacked out setting, the movie manages to make a very poingiant statement about the evolution of American culture.

It's gripping, amusing, suspenseful, and visually awesome. Everything that makes a movie great.