Pleasantville (1998)

“I knew you couldn’t be so hopelessly geek-ridden for so long without suffering some really tragic consequences.”

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Set not in a false Utopian future but a false Utopian past, Pleasantville nonetheless has a lot in common with Lois Lowry’s award-winning book, The Giver.

David (Spider-Man’s Tobey Maguire) and Jennifer (Walk the Line’s Reese Witherspoon) are transported from their own Nineties reality into a Fifties-esque fiction.  In waiting for a chance to escape, their continued presence effects radical change in a backwater world.

Pleasantville is a difficult piece for me to evaluate.  Like a gifted craftsman turning his attention to dubious ends, its creators’ pretensions are obvious, but their intentions somewhat suspect.  I understand the whys and and admire the hows of this effort, and yet I remain unconvinced.

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Please note:  This review is a placeholder “stub” intended for future revision.

Rated PG for adult situations, coarse language, disturbing scenes

124 minutes