PLEASANTVILLE (49)

Directed by: Gary Ross

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, Joan Allen, William H. Macy

The Pitch: A magic zapper transports a 90s brother and sister into the picture-perfect world of a 50s TV show.

Theo Sez: Interesting how this seems to appeal especially (albeit not exclusively) to American critics of a certain age, doubtless because they're able to flesh out its rather arid allegory ("I grew up in the 50s," writes mega-fan Roger Ebert. "It was a lot more like the world of PLEASANTVILLE than you might imagine"). The rest of us might reasonably accuse it of playing with a stacked deck, insofar as it exaggerates 50s rigidity to a reductio ad absurdum - creating a world where nothing ever changes, and nothing even exists outside its small-town ambit - then presents the transformation of that world as a kind of triumph ; there's something rather absurdly literal-minded about a fantasy world being judged (and found wanting) by real-world standards - it's as though THE WIZARD OF OZ (to which this has been compared, not implausibly) had ended with the Wicked Witch embracing democracy and civil rights for Munchkins. Not bad in itself - with some poignant work from Jeff Daniels in a potentially goofy role - but the heart sinks when the talk turns to book-burning and "a non-changist view of history" amid these fanciful surroundings. Like his protagonists (who feel, when their TV breaks down, "almost like losing a friend"), Ross seems to have a problem distinguishing between real and televisual : fun concept, fine performances - but building (then demolishing) a model of the 50s based entirely on 50s sitcoms does not in fact carry any political significance.