PLEASANTVILLE

REVIEWED BY SCARLETT POWELL

Our rating: 2 out of 5

Because of: sexual content

Rated:

What might have been a wonderful coming of age story has been transformed into a journey of sexual awakening from wholesome innocence. Pleasantville will draw audiences in because of the beautiful filmmaking and magnificent leading cast, but don't be fooled by appearances. This film is much more vulgar than it seems.

David (Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon) is your average American teenager. David spends his time trying to think up things to say to girls, and watching his favorite 1960's television show, Pleasantville. He knows the episodes backward and inside out, from what dress Mary Sue wore to the prom to the exact number of soda bottles on the store counter. The cable channel that shows this wonderful piece of family nostalgia is opening a contest for fans to participate in and win big bucks. At the end of their all-night marathon, they'll run a series of questions and the person who answers them all accurately will get the grand prize. Little does David know that his sister Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon) has finally gotten a date with the boy of her dreams. They're planning on watching an MTV concert at her house that evening, with no parent chaperones since their mom is going out of town.

An all-out tug of war leaves the remote control shattered on the floor, and both siblings sulking... until a stranger comes to their door. The TV Repairman (Don Knotts) gives them a new remote control, and with the magic press of a button, they find themselves in ... Pleasantville! They've been sucked into the black and white world where everyone is innocent, where the only thing two teens want to do in the back of a car up at the lake is hold hands, where if you haven't seen it in the show, it doesn't exist (bathrooms), and you can never leave: because the road doesn't lead anywhere.

David knows that in order to get out of this alive, they have to play along. Jennifer has to be innocent, sweet Mary Sue, and he has to be the local soda jerk. But after a few hours of being Mary Jane, Jennifer has other plans. She teaches Mary Jane's shy boyfriend a few things about sex. It creates a ripple throughout Pleasantville. Suddenly all the teens are fornicating up at the lake. Then the parents start catching on. With this liberal freedom comes... color! A red rose in the neighbor's hedge, a blue sweater. David knows their world is beginning to unravel. Reality is entering fantasy. They all have something to learn if they're ever going to get home. What comes out of it is basically a story of sexual awakening, a liberal effort that says innocence is nothing to be proud of, and we should mock the sweet charm of the 1950's, when you never saw a toilet, much less a married couple sharing the same room.

That's not to say this movie isn't charming. It does have some sweet moments, particularly in the first half, but I rapidly grew tired of constant sexual references and modern propaganda. Mary Sue's mother is concerned that her husband won't want to try sex, so Jennifer encourages her to "please herself." We're forced to endure a long scene with the woman in the bathtub doing just that. Sexual noises come from rocking convertibles all in a row. There's full female nudity in artwork, including that of a town housewife with whom the artist is having an affair. One f-word and a half dozen mild profanities make up the script. "Oh my God!" is uttered every other word. I thought it would be a nice little throwback and, yes, a mockery of those silly black and white sitcoms that your parents were raised on, but instead it was a crash course in adultery, fornication, and sexual experimentation. Pleasantville is better left in innocence.

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