I enjoyed watching 1998s’ Pleasantville again today. I forgot a lot about, but was surprised at how wonderful it still holds up. Reese Witherspoon and Tobey Maguire are fantastic in it, while the writing, direction, and art design are truly magnificent. Tobey Maguire plays David who’s a big fan of a retro TV show that’s just like Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver. A sequence of mystical events send he and his sister (Witherspoon) into the black and white world of Pleasantville. The inhabitants are blissfully naive to modern society’s ways, married couples still sleep in separate beds, and dates involve little more than going to a soda shoppe for weeks before moving up to hand holding. All of that gets turned upside down when Witherspoon’s slutty Jennifer character has sex with the high school heart throb. Color starts spilling into the world, and the Nick At Nite universe is turned on its head.

The movie is probably about 15 minutes too long, but it is a thoughtfully told story about living your dreams and overcoming the boundaries of what society thinks you’re “supposed” to do. Joan Allen, William Macy, and Jeff Daniels are great as Pleasantville townsfolk, and Don Knotts has a wonderful cameo as a quirky TV repairman. Former child star and current singing sensation Jenny Lewis has a blink and you’ll miss it role, and Paul “Fast and Furious” Walker plays the captain of the school basketball team. I also got a kick seeing Danny Strong in a small part, who had a memorable role as “Doyle”  in The Gilmore Girls.

Tobey Maguire is the soul of the movie. It’s clear that his work here was instrumental in him being cast in the Spider-Man films.

Give it a look again, won’t you?