Pleasantville is a 1998 American teen fantasy comedy-drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Gary Ross. It stars Tobey Maguire, Jeff Daniels, Joan Allen, William H. Macy, J. T. Walsh, and Reese Witherspoon, with Don Knotts, Paul Walker, Marley Shelton and Jane Kaczmarek in supporting roles. The story centers on two siblings who wind up trapped in a 1950s TV show, set in a small Midwest town, where residents are seemingly perfect.
The film was one of J. T. Walsh's final performances and was dedicated to his memory. It was also the final on-screen film appearance of Don Knotts, who would subsequently take on voice acting roles until his death.
Plot
High-schoolers David and his sister Jennifer lead very different lives: Jennifer is shallow, while David spends most of his time watching Pleasantville, a black-and-white 1950s sitcom about the idyllic Parker family. One evening while their mother is away, David and Jennifer fight over the television, breaking the remote control.
A mysterious TV repairman arrives and, impressed by David's knowledge of Pleasantville, gives him a strange remote control before departing. When they use the remote control, David and Jennifer are transported into the black-and-white world of Pleasantville, finding themselves in the Parkers' living room. David tries to reason with the repairman, communicating through the Parkers' television, but the repairman declares that the world of Pleasantville is better than the real world and they should be lucky to live in it.
Forced to act as the show's characters, Bud and Mary Sue Parker, David and Jennifer explore the wholesome but peculiar town. Fire does not exist and firefighters merely rescue cats from trees, and the citizens of Pleasantville are unaware that anything exists outside of their town, as all roads circle back into town with no escape. David tells Jennifer they must stay in character and not disrupt the town. Trying to maintain the show's plot, Jennifer dates a boy from school and tells him about what dating is like for her, a concept unknown to him and everyone else in town.
Slowly, parts of Pleasantville change from black-and-white to color, including flowers and the faces of people who experience new bursts of emotion, and foreign concepts such as books, fire, and rain begin to appear. After Jennifer introduces new ideas to her peers, many of her classmates go to the garden to read, becoming "colored" in the process.
David introduces Bill Johnson, owner of the soda fountain where Bud works, to colorful modern art via a book from the library, sparking Bill's interest in painting. After learning about caring for herself, Betty starts a fire and becomes colorized. Jennifer/Mary Sue becomes colorized after developing a newfound interest in literature. Bill and Betty fall in love, and she leaves home, bewildering her husband George. Only the town fathers remain unchanged. Led by the mayor, Big Bob, who views the changes as a threat to Pleasantville's values, they resolve to do something about their increasingly independent wives and rebellious children.
As the townsfolk become more colorful, a ban on "colored" people is initiated in public venues. A riot is ignited by Bill's nude painting of Betty on the window of his malt shop. The soda fountain is destroyed, books are burned and people who are "colored" are harassed in the street, while Betty is harassed by non-colored teenage boys. David/Bud punches one of the boys and scares them away, demonstrating newfound courage that turns him colored. The town fathers forbid people from visiting the library, playing loud music, or using colorful paint.
In protest, David and Bill paint a colorful mural depicting their world, prompting their arrest. Brought to trial in front of the entire town, David and Bill defend their actions and arouse enough anger and indignation in Big Bob that he becomes colored as well, and flees. Celebrating their victory, David notices that the television store now sells color televisions that are broadcasting new programs and footage of other countries—and that the town's roads now lead to other cities.
With Pleasantville changed, Jennifer chooses to continue her new life in the TV world. Bidding farewell to his sister, his new girlfriend, and Betty, David uses the remote control to return to the real world, where he finds that only an hour has passed back in the 'real world'. He comforts his mother, who had left to meet a man only to get cold feet, and assures her that nothing has to be perfect.
A montage reveals the citizens of Pleasantville enjoying their new lives, Jennifer/Mary Sue attending college, and Betty, George, and Bill contemplating the future.