More Than Just Pleasant
In the first movie since The Wizard of Oz to show color in an effort to parallel worlds, Pleasantville is a playful comedy that puts old school morals to the test. Gary Ross (director of Big) brings us another silver screen smash about lives changing completely overnight. Ross brings a testament of change whose brilliant effects and nostalgic soundtrack leaves you better than you were before you entered the theater.
Pleasantville is a perfect grayscale community where changes do not exist and holding hands is the equivalent of sex. This “Father Knows Best” based show, with the help of TV repairman (Don Knotts), sucks in two teenage siblings (Reese Witherspoon and Toby McGuire) who are crude in comparison to the picture perfect residents. When they arrive, they are transformed into Bud and Mary Sue Parker, the children of George and Betty Parker (William H. Macy and Joan Allen).
During their stay, the duo shows Pleasantville a new way to view their world (which is only made up of Pleasantville itself). However, this new perspective starts to change the usually drab town. The winning basketball team starts losing, dialogue that usually consists of “gee whiz” and “keen” is peppered with 90’s slang such as “cool”, and vivid but beautiful colors start appearing. These new developments are not welcomed by all. Those whose pallets are suddenly sprinkled with reds and green are forced to be outcasts and, on occasion, are called “coloreds”. This starts a string of discriminatory acts that tear apart the town. Relationships are tested and friendships are made.
Pleasantville challenges its characters not to blend in with the crowd but to let their true colors show. This fresh storyline works nicely with the on-point acting that is shown.
The best acting performance comes from Joan Allen, who is so tragically ashamed of her new color that she actually puts gray makeup on in one scene to seem like she has not undergone a change at all. Allen pushes through her mask...
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