Pleasantville – More films should be like this

There are some films which seem to come and go and no one ever really seems to notice.  With all the big-budget movies out there which are predicable, laden with annoying CGI effects and follow a formula where you know exactly what will happen at all times, ‘Pleasantville’ is a real breath of fresh air.  Yet, for some reason, no one really talks about it even though it’s held in high regard seemingly with everyone who’s seen it.

It’s rare that a film’s tagline sums it up so well, but you may see on any marketing ‘The Truman Show meets Back to the Future.’ And it’s hard to put it any better (although I saw a hint of ‘The Last Action Hero’ in the plot, but it’s barely noticeable!).  Two of today’s American teens are – for reasons you’ll soon find out – ‘beamed’ into an old black and white TV show from yesteryear.  It’s safe to say that things worked differently in the days before cell phones and Instagram.  Back then firemen constantly rescued stranded cats from trees, teens holding hands was still a taboo and the most exciting thing the youth of the time could do was hand out the local milkshake bar.  Therefore, our two young protagonists (played by Tobey Maguire and Reece Witherspoon) find it a challenge to blend in with the locals.

However, things really start to go wrong when their influence – literally – bring new life to the fictional telly town.  Their modern influence slowly starts seeping into the people and environment and the black and white world they’ve found themselves in starts to become colour.  Now, that wouldn’t be so bad, but the locals start engaging in – what they consider – to be ‘immoral’ behaviour (which you’d probably find on kids’ TV in today’s times).  What follows is a tale about whether our two teens can actually escape their TV-prison and, what will happen to the residents they leave behind.

It’s truly one of the most clever – vaguely mainstream – films to come out of Hollywood in recent times and, if you’re in the mood for something that doesn’t involve superheroes flying around a destroyed U.S. city, then you should definitely watch this one.

9/10 almost as perfect as The Godfather