David (Tobey MaGuire) and his sister, Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon), live with their divorced mother in a typical suburban home. Jennifer lives a life of promiscuity while David has no success with girls. Thus, David retreats to his home after school and watches TV, especially "Pleasantville," a 1950s show where life is perfect and happy. In fact, he's seen it enough, he knows every trivial aspect of the show. One night, in an argument between the two, David and Jennifer break their only TV remote. Oddly, a TV repairman (Don Knotts) shows up immediately and gives them a new, high tech remote. When he leaves, the 2 teens argue over the remote again & are somehow transported into the show. David assumes the role of Bud while Jennifer assumes the role of Mary Sue. David loves his new situation, however Jennifer does not. The problems begin when they start influencing the innocence of the people in the show and everyday routines start to change. As the story progresses, more trouble arises & are people lose their innocence, they lose their black and white shades & turn color.

Pleasantville is the weirdest movie since The Truman Show (which i loved). But it's the most controversial i've seen in recent months! Filled with hidden messages & even obvious ones, this movie is both entertaining and possibly dangerous. Sexual references and themes range pretty high in this film. The language is typical PG-13 material, and the plotline is rather original.

This brings us to the sex-ridden "loss of innocence" theme. Jennifer decides to introduce the teens of the town to premarital sex, and many implied elements are used (see the below listing). But the worst example of what I'm saying is when Jennifer explains to her mother what sex is. Although the details aren't heard, Betty comments, "Wow. Your father would never do that." Then Jen replies, "There are other ways to enjoy yourself-- without Dad." In the next scene, Betty is shown in the bathtub (no nudity) and she initiates this very sinful act, and her facial expressions and repeated exclamations tell us what she is doing. Also, aside from this theme, the diner owner, Mr. Johnson (Jeff Daniels), paints a picture of Betty nude on the shop window. And David shows him a book of colorful paintings where some contain nudity.

The profanity is unnecessary with 1 "f" word thrown in at the end by David and Jennifer's "real" mother, along with a handful of uses of blasphemy scattered throughout the film.

Themes about race run rampant through the movie with riots and segregation of the "colored people," leading to signs like "NO COLOREDS ALLOWED" in shop windows. The intent of the focus on teenage promiscuity is unknown, but due to the explicit nature of such ideas, it is probably something you may have to interpret for yourself. The movie definitely has an Adam & Eve aspect to it, but tends to take the side of Adam & Eve who fell for temptation. One may even go as far as to see David and Jennifer as "serpents" among the innocent.

Overall, the movie is pretty good, however, due to its questionable nature and sex-ridden plot, I just can't recommend it.

- John (reviewed: 11/9/98)