If the ending had been more ironic than predictable, the film might have been able to beat the similarly themed “The Truman Show” in this year’s “best of” race.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 4, 2023

Tobey Maguire, Joan Allen and especially Jeff Daniels are all tremendous here, and Gary Ross gives it just enough of a personality to give it an edge. Don Knotts is also doing his thing here, which I appreciate.

| Sep 20, 2022

When characters begin to refer to "coloured people" in a film with exactly zero actual people of colour in the entire work, Ross' allegory shifts from weak to active inappropriate.

| Original Score: 4/10 | Apr 7, 2021

It is a reminder to me that the changes I wish to see in society I must first make within myself.

| Original Score: 4.0/4.0 | Sep 20, 2020

Is Pleasantville worth the trip? Sure. It's not the movie it might have been, but so few are.

| Feb 26, 2020

Its true strength lies in what it says not only about life, but about ourselves.

| Original Score: A | Jan 29, 2019

Gary Ross (Big, Dave) makes an impressive directing debut with this charming, nicely executed fable, which contrasts values of the 1950s with those of the 1990s.

| Original Score: B+ | Aug 13, 2011

Great movie for high schoolers and their parents.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 27, 2010

Ingeniously conceived and impressively executed, "Pleasantville" is a provocative, complex and surprisingly anti-nostalgic parable wrapped in the beguiling guise of a commercial high-concept comedy.

| Oct 18, 2008

An ingenious fable, screenwriter Ross's directorial debut playfully spoofs the small-minded lifestyle idealised by 'family values' advocates, and the intolerance and insecurity underlying that ideal.

| Jun 24, 2006

Though Ross works in some heavy-handed strokes, his portrait of stodgy Eisenhower America dazzles with some of the loveliest imagery of any 1990s film.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 23, 2006

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Dec 6, 2005

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Dec 6, 2005

"Pleasantville" is a solid premier for director Ross, providing a thought-provoking story, solid acting and wonderful special F/X.

| Original Score: B+ | Apr 9, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Apr 2, 2005

Someday, maybe someday soon, someone in Hollywood is going to make a genuinely great movie about television as a metaphor for America.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jan 29, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | May 3, 2004

Hollywood satire is not usually this enjoyable: Both savage and silly, Pleasantville is an absolute blast.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 13, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 14, 2003

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Feb 8, 2003