Pleasantville: Critic Reviews

100%

MovieWeb: 1 reviews

86%

RottenTomatoes: 50 reviews

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Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly (Top Critic)

50

Technical elegance and fine performances mask the shallowness of a story as simpleminded as the '50s TV to which it condescends.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Jay Carr Boston Globe (Top Critic)

One of the year's delights!
Full Review » 12 years ago
J. Hoberman Village Voice (Top Critic)

Funny for about half an hour, Pleasantville thereafter becomes an increasingly lugubrious, ultimately exasperating mix of technological wonder and ideological idiocy.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times (Top Critic)

100

One of the year's best and most original films!
Full Review » 12 years ago
Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader (Top Critic)

75

A movie of unique ideological derangement that simultaneously demands and defies precise decoding.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Jeff Strickler Minneapolis Star Tribune (Top Critic)

88

The lighthearted fable Pleasantville takes some pointed swipes at the make-believe world of 1950s TV -- and none too soon.
Full Review » 10 years ago
Susan Stark Detroit News (Top Critic)

75

An immensely intelligent entertainment!
Full Review » 12 years ago
Bob Fenster Arizona Republic (Top Critic)

Picks up where Truman Show left off!
Full Review » 12 years ago
Robert Horton Film.com (Top Critic)

Pleasant, but not much more!
Full Review » 12 years ago
Rick Groen Globe and Mail (Top Critic)

75

Endearing it definitely is, so much so that it's easy to overlook the simplicity, and the sly confidence trick that gets played on us.
Full Review » 10 years ago
Charles Taylor Salon.com (Top Critic)

Both ambitious and simple-minded, Pleasantville combines technical sophistication with a rather limited imagination.
Full Review » 12 years ago
James Berardinelli ReelViews (Top Critic)

88

The most stunning thing about Pleasantville is the film's look, which rivals that of the year's other two most visually-impressive productions, Dark City and What Dreams May Come.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times (Top Critic)

50

Ends up having more on its mind than it can successfully handle.
Full Review » 11 years ago
Nell Minow Common Sense Media

80

Great movie for high schoolers and their parents.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Thomas Delapa Boulder Weekly

75

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.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Philip Martin Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

59

Someday, maybe someday soon, someone in Hollywood is going to make a genuinely great movie about television as a metaphor for America.
Full Review » 7 years ago
Bruce Kirkland Jam! Movies

80

Hollywood satire is not usually this enjoyable: Both savage and silly, Pleasantville is an absolute blast.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Ron Wells Film Threat

90

Ross has come up with one of the best, most subversive, and definitely one of the most memorable films of the year.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Merle Bertrand Film Threat

90

This is an exquisite, timely film. It's nice to know that occasionally, even Hollywood does something right.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Edward Guthmann San Francisco Chronicle

50

There's a terrific idea at the heart of Pleasantville, and it's a shame that its creator, Big screenwriter Gary Ross, can't figure where to take it.
Full Review » 10 years ago
Pablo Villaca Cinema em Cena

80

Um dos filmes mais inteligentes de 1998.
Full Review » 10 years ago
Steven D. Greydanus Decent Films Guide

0

For a movie that makes such a big deal about color, Pleasantville is awfully black and white.
Full Review » 10 years ago
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat Spirituality and Practice

An innovative and ethically provocative film about free spirits and those who would keep them down.
Full Review » 10 years ago
Andrew O'Hehir Sight and Sound

Overcomes its moralising and occasional pomposity with magical photographic effects.
Full Review » 10 years ago
Almar Haflidason BBC

80

One of the few recent Hollywood films out there that has used new digital technology to truly engage the viewer, and make possible a thoughtful story.
Full Review » 10 years ago