Pleasantville

Pleasantville

73% Liked It
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Pleasantville

Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, William H. Macy, Joan Allen, Jeff Daniels, J.T. Walsh, Don Knotts, Marley Shelton, Jane Kaczmarek, Paul Walker

Two 1990's teenagers find themselves in a 1950's sitcom where their influence begins to profoundly change that complacent world.

Id: 2218462

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Recent Reviews


  • August 31, 2009
    This and Purple Rose of Cairo are both about disrupted routine and comparing the fictional world of 50's TV or 30's movies to real life. I like the effects and all the performances (though Don Knotts is a little hokey). But the theme more than anything is what makes this story ...( read more)so enjoyable for me. The sex, music, color, art, library books, and general spirit of change that stirs up this innocent, gray, small town (I mean small town! Where there is nothing outside of Pleasantville!), bigoted, 50's TV sitcom world of the status quo, is creatively visualized.
  • January 11, 2009
    Interesting movie about siblings being transported into a make believe time.
  • August 31, 2008
    The idea of this movie is brilliant. A couple of kids from the 90's get thrown into the world of a 50's B&W sitcom where everything is just peachy. Peachy yes, but not very real. The firemen have never rescued anything other than a cat in a tree. The basketball team has never...( read more) lost. David and Jennifer manage to introduce Pleasantville to feelings which changes everything.
  • April 28, 2008
    totally original, fantastic direction
  • March 14, 2008
    I cannot remember it well enough to evaluate it properly, but I love the idea. The story is like a 'Wizard of Oz' doppleganger, a loss of innocence and discovery of truth through color, imagination and rebellion.
  • November 12, 2009
    take the colors inside of you out
    amazing story,
    can go a little futher though
  • November 2, 2009
    A nice film which will keep most entertained with the simple plot. The beauty of the film is the effective use of black and white intermingling with colour.
  • November 1, 2009
    Fantastic movie, plot, acting!
  • October 31, 2009
    !Comercial or Stupid! :|
  • October 24, 2009
    Some critics here are saying the movie takes itself too seriously - but I believe some people are taking it too literally. ... Saying that the topics that are addressed have no impact on society anymore, clearly misses the point. ... The 50s -- or more specifically, 50s TV -- is ...( read more)used as a metaphor, because of the way 50s TV portrayed life in America. ... Thematically, this movie is about "Living Life" to the fullest, whatever that means. More specifically, to live life to the fullest -- to truly feel "alive" -- you need to take the good with the bad. Sweeping things under the rug and just acting "pleasant" all the time, is no way to live. That's what Tobey McGuire's speech at the end to his "real" mother is all about. Bad things happen, it's part of life. Having passion brings with it positives and negatives -- but suppressing true feelings for the sake of "pleasantness" is an empty life. THAT is the key ... and that "issue" is everlasting to the human condition.
    Another point: People fear change. This is universal from the start of time until the end of time. The film suggests that changing and growing as a society and as people -- even if scary -- is good. Just because the 50s were used as a metaphor for that, don't believe for a minute this isn't a universal issue that exists today and forever.
    This is not a perfect film. I liked its subtlety, but then the racism correlation, and the censorship stuff, got a bit more overt. The courtroom scene at the end is a bit cliche ... and I also agree with one poster who said that, to make the point about taking the good with the bad, we should've seen a bit more about the consequences of their actions.

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