Review – Pleasantville

I’ll bet boomers get a real kick out of this. The premise is that a couple of 90s teens get zapped into a 50s sitcom and end up introducing the place to reality (and color in the process). But they’re working it pretty hard here. The underlying message about the importance of freedom of expression and tolerance and all that good stuff is pretty heavy-handed. Don’t get me wrong; it’s not that I disagree with the film’s conclusions about bigotry, censorship and the like. It’s just a little preachy. Thickness of message aside, however, the script is clever, the acting earnest, and the black and white to color transition effects work well. Mildly amusing