Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon play brother and sister who are high school students in the present day (though they were 23 and 22 when they made the film). While you have no idea WHY, Don Knotts (yes, Don Knotts!) plays a magical TV repairman who gives them a bizarre looking remote that somehow transports them into a TV show that Tobey loves--"Pleasantville". They have no idea why this occurred or if it will ever end or if Knotts is god, but oddly neither questions this new world that is literally in black & white like an old episode of "Father Knows Best". However, unwittingly, their presence with their modern sensibilities and notions causes this seemingly idyllic world to start to slowly come apart at the seems. Notions such as freedom to choose, sex and individuality are missing in this world--and the two interlopers bring this to the plastic world of Pleasantville.

By the way, Pleasantville is odd in many ways. First, all roads in town lead right back to town and no one has ever left the town or knows anything about the world outside. Second, books are blank inside and the people have no idea about what they contain. Third, when there is a fire, the fire department actually has no idea WHAT a fire is--they are only used to things you might see in the TV world--such as rescuing cats stuck in trees. In fact, how Tobey is able to finally convince the firemen to come to his house when there is an actual fire is pretty funny. There's a lot more that is strange about the town and it gets stranger when the influence of the two outsiders slowly causes actual colors to begin appearing in the monochrome world.

The film is a strange surreal sort of thing that is truly unique. Using colorization techniques, they are able to achieve amazing results that seem to jump off the screen. It's all a metaphor about how the idyllic life of 50s TV was actually quite stilted and repressive, though Maquire and Witherspoon's life in the real world isn't exactly great either--their parents are divorced and Witherspoon is, to put it nicely, a bit shallow and slutty. A happy medium would sure be nice--combining the best of both worlds--and I think this is a valid interpretation of the film's intent. Where exactly it all goes and the unexpected consequences are something you'll just have to learn about yourself, so watch the film.

Overall, a rather interesting and innovative film. It was nominated for three Oscars and deserved kudos in these departments--for sets, costume design and music. While I wouldn't put it in the category of must-see, it is interesting and worth seeing--even if the ending is a bit too drawn out in some ways. The only real misgiving I have is the way SOME might see the film and come to the conclusions that the 1950s were all bad and repressive--a rather oversimplification of the era, to say the least. This era, like all in our history, had its good and bad points and I worry that such a revisionist view of our past will be believed by young people seeing this movie--especially since films such as this are the only way most teens get their history. I know, as I've taught US and World History--kids are THAT gullible...really. I can't really blame the folks from "Pleasantville" for this lack of awareness in teens, but it did concern me as I watched the film.

By the way, one thing I liked about the film was the courtroom scene and William Macy's acting. While he said very, very little, his face showed so much expression--now THAT'S acting!

One of the most charming fantasies ever put on film was what Gary Ross did in the film Pleasantville. It's subtle message about tolerance for diversity ought to be required viewing for those of us who make public policy and influence public opinion.

Television of the Fifties seems to have fashioned an image of the American family that permeates our political views and social mores right down to today. Not that families were any better or worse during the Fifties, but the image that television created with families from Ozzie and Harriet, Leave It To Beaver, Father Knows Best, right through to the Brady Bunch seem to set impossible standards. Including a favorite of mine, the Donna Reed Show which I believe was the model for the Parker family in Pleasantville. Starting with your's truly, I don't know anyone who had an upbringing like in a TV family.

Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon play a pair of current teens who don't have the greatest of home lives. Maguire is a nerdy kid and Witherspoon is a very serious version of Kelly Bundy who thinks if she sleeps around, she'll be popular and hasn't much interest in education.

One night while Witherspoon is running late for a date and Maguire is getting ready for a marathon showing of the popular Fifties family comedy Pleasantville the remote breaks down. As if by magic, a TV repairman played by Don Knotts shows up with a very special remote. As Witherspoon and Maguire fight over the remote by magic they are transported into the television set and become part of the self contained universe of Pleasantville. Oh, and they are in black and white as the show was taped back in the day.

So with their new identities from the teenage kids of the Parker family with ideal mom and dad Joan Allen and William H. Macy, Maguire and Witherspoon seek to adjust to a new life in television land. But just the introduction of these two into this well ordered universe changes things, first in the most subtle ways and then as both realize the problems with this world in more direct ways. As the change comes, color comes slowly creeping into the black and white images.

Pleasantville got Oscar nominations for Art&Set Design, Original Score, and Costume Design unfortunately not winning any. However it won Saturn Awards for Tobey Maguire and Joan Allen for Best Actor and Supporting Actress in a Science Fiction film. I prefer to think of it as a fantasy rather than a science fiction film, though I can see that science fiction certainly influenced the creation. It combines the best elements of a Star Trek TNG pair of episodes involving Data and LeForge with a holodeck character based on Professor Moriarty and how he's dealt with and an original episode involving Kirk and Spock and some of the rest of the crew landing on a planet where the philosophy of a former sage named Landru is enforced vigorously. There's a bit of the Stepford Wives here as well.

In fact in the role of the head of the Pleasantville Men's Association is J.T. Walsh in a farewell performance. Such things that don't fit his ideas and those of an influential few are just not permitted in their paradise. Pleasantville is also the last big screen appearance of Don Knotts, an interesting choice for the TV repairman as he was a regular on the most wholesome Andy Griffith Show.

Pleasantville is one of the best films of the last decade of the last century. It illustrates that humanity's real strength is in its diversity and how we respect that diversity. It's what brings out the best in the human character, in the human spirit.

David (Tobey Maguire) is a geek in high school. Real life is diminishing expectations, family divorce and no female companionship. He's obsessed with an old TV show Pleasantville. While watching a Pleasantville marathon, he has a fight with his twin sister Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon) and they break the TV remote. TV repairman (Don Knotts) shows up and give them a special remote which sends them into the show. They become George (William H. Macy) and Betty Parker (Joan Allen)'s kids Bud and Mary Sue. She's not happy until she sees her new boyfriend Skip Martin (Paul Walker). Bud is working at Bill Johnson (Jeff Daniels)'s soda shop. He falls for Margaret Henderson (Marley Shelton). The kids' interactions start changing the strange purity of Pleasantville and colors seeps into the world.

At first, this is a gimmick that has some cute aspects. Don Knotts adds to that sense of a cheap laugh. It has some good fun with Maguire and Witherspoon budding head. Then the deeper profound message seeps into the movie. It is gentle and yet undeniable. A couple of times, I feared the movie would push too hard like calling the people "color". It manages to maintain some distance and follow through on the message without overpowering it. This is quite a film.