Once upon a time, back in the '50s, there existed a "better" America, a wholesome utopia of crew cuts, unquestioning white-bread conformity and mom in the kitchen baking apple pies.
That this never-never land didn't really exist outside of TV programs like "Father Knows Best" or "The Donna Reed Show" doesn't seem toregister in the minds of cantankerous Republican oldsters. The nuclear family and safe, white-picket fence suburbs are remembered fondly, while blacklisting and racial segregation are conveniently forgotten in this Reaganesque triumph of fantasy over reality.
Here to induce a reality check, and make the point that there's no turning the clock back as if the past three decades never happened, is screenwriter-turned-director Gary Ross ("Dave," "Big"). "Pleasantville," the amusing directorial debut of this former Clinton soundbite-writer, sets up this TV-induced conservative ideal of American family life -- complete with libido-less teens and people who actually say "Swell!" -- and proceeds to utterly take the piss out of it.