The actual plot of the movie concerns siblings David (Tobey Maguire) and Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon) who are living out a typical late 1990s teenage existence until one fateful night when a high-tech remote control sends them into David's favorite sitcom, Pleasantville. Now the two of them are stuck in a black-and-white 1950s sitcom complete with George Parker (William H. Macy), a father who knows best, Betty Parker (Joan Allen), a studious housewife for a mom and a whole town that lives such a squeaky-clean life that they don't even know what toilets are. As they stick around in this town, David and Jennifer begin to illuminate the townsfolks on what the real world beyond Pleasantville has to offer, like sex, art and more flexible gender roles.
It's a set-up that sounds like it'll be good for just a few jokes juxtaposing wild 1990s teens with uptight 1950s societal norms, but Pleasantville gradually reveals that it's actually a piece of biting social commentary. As the members of the town begin to expand their horizons, certain inhabitants and objects in Pleasantville begin to become fully colorized, which upsets the powerful older white male members of the town who are stuck in black-and-white and begin to complain about the "colored" people in their town. Subtle? Nope. But here's a great example of subtlety really not being needed. Pleasantville gets its point across in a manner that totally eschews subtlety and it's all the better for it.
After all, societal prejudice of all stripes tends to manifest in such overt terms, why should a film all about condoning the restrictive nature traditional societal and gender norms opt for an exclusively restrained style? It just wouldn't fit for this material. Of course, that doesn't mean Pleasantville totally eschews subtlety. Actually, one of its best characters gets some of his most emotionally poignant sequences out of a restrained approach. I'm talking, of course, about diner chef Bill Johnson, played by Jeff Daniels. I had no clue Daniels was in this movie before I started watching it and the moment he stepped onto the screen, man, I practically squealed with glee! His subsequent performance in Pleasantville is so excellent that it made my excitement at his unexpected presence in the film seem totally justified!
Johnson is perhaps the most notable townsperson Pleasantville follows in exploring how freeing it can be to pursue your own identity instead of adhering to suffocating routine. Daniels' depiction of Johnson's awestruck excitement at the world that's opening up around him is utterly heartwarming and tends to be so poignant thanks to Daniels' restrained performance. An early scene sets the tone for what kind of performance Daniels will deliver throughout the rest of the movie as Johnson tells David in a hushed but reverent voice about how exciting it was to do his closing rituals at the diner in a different order than usual. Daniels doesn't need to give a big speech or flail his arms around to convey just how important this is to David, just his soft-spoken delivery here communicates how impactful this turn of events is for the character.
Really, anytime David shows up in Pleasantville, Daniels gets a chance to show off his chops as a performer in terms of delivering maximum poignancy in restrained terms. That one scene where David washes off the black-and-white makeup covering Betty Parker's body? He barely says any dialogue in that scene and still got me wiping away tears! That magnificent sequence is heavily aided as well by Joan Allen's similarly top-notch work as a performer. Betty goes on her own journey of discovery over the course of this movie, one that involves her discovering her own sexual autonomy, and Allen depicts every step of Betty's unique coming-of-age tale with exquisite humanity, she wonderfully captures just how freeing it is for Betty to finally have her own say in the world.
Daniels and Allen are the biggest standouts in a remarkable cast that works like gangbusters under the direction of Gary Ross. While later Ross directorial efforts like The Hunger Games and Free State of Jones suffered from poor direction and camerawork, Pleasantville sees Ross delivering truly remarkable work on a visual level. There's all kinds of memorable shots to be found in here depicting the way vibrant color is depicted seeping into a world that's still predominately black-and-white. The meticulous way color is peppered throughout Pleasantville shows that an impressive amount of attention has been paid to the tiniest visual details in this film. Such a careful filmmaking approach helps to make a stay in Pleasantville an extraordinary one. Whether you're a fan of clever comedies, Jeff Daniels, memorable visuals or just flat-out good cinema, you're bound to find something in Pleasantville to adore.
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