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Review by Susan Granger
4 stars out of 4
If you can envision a surreal combination of "Alice in
Wonderland," "Wizard of Oz," and "The Stepford Wives," you've arrived
in "Pleasantville," a fictional black-and-white town where everything
is just about perfect. Like "The Truman Show." And just imagine what
would happen if two contemporary teenagers suddenly arrived. Like
"Back to the Future." In this daring modern fairy tale, "once upon a
time" involves Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon - fraternal twins -
who, after their parents' divorce, are having a pretty miserable
time. Suddenly, courtesy of a mysterious TV repair man (Don Knotts),
they find themselves trapped in a 1958 sit-com where Mom (Joan Allen)
wears pearls, bouffant hair, high heels, and a pretty dress as she's
cooking a "nourishing" breakfast of blueberry pancakes, scrambled
eggs, bacon, and ham steak every morning, and Dad (William H. Macy)
arrives from work every night at the same time, hangs up his hat, and
shouts, "Honey, I'm home." The kids hang out at Mr. Johnson's (Jeff
Daniels) Soda Shoppe and the school basketball team always wins.
Tobey quickly realizes that their presence in this kinder, gentler
time could alter reality, so he tries to stick to the script but
Reese, wailing about "nerdville," just wants to have fun. Inevitably,
they introduce "dangerous" elements like sensuality, diversity, and
possibility into the staid '50s sensibility. Writer Gary Ross ("Big,"
"Dave") creates a wildly imaginative concept and, in his directing
debut, transforms his black-and-white world into multi-colored magic
as the chaotic, discordant '60s arrives, complete with its requisite
rock music. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Pleasantville" is
an astonishing, intriguing, irresistible 10. This is a "must see" -
one of the best of the year!
Copyright © 2000 Susan Granger
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