In the mood for lighthearted comedy that the whole family can enjoy? If so, you can forget about seeing PLEASANTVILLE! If instead you want witless jokes and propaganda so thick you can choke on it, this is the movie for you. The film clearly has an agenda, and entertaining you is sadly not it. For starters, the lead in is horribly weak, which would have been okay if the movie had remained cute, as in its inception. Of course, I said, “if.” The comedy (what little there ends up being) becomes so weak and infantile that it’s finally pathetic. Yeah, daughter teaching mom how to masturbate is sooooooooo funny! And with a snap of the finger, PROPAGANDAVILLE becomes all about message rather than entertainment. I’m not even sure the makers knew exactly what they were trying to say. More likely, they latched on to the most obvious moral they could and ran with it. The problem is, it’s not done intelligently. It’s spoon fed to you over and over again like you’re a brainless twit. The message doesn’t even relate to the present situation the two characters come from at all. They try to apply it in the end and only succeed in insulting you further it’s so absurd. Hey, didn’t 90’s mom ever wonder what happened to her daughter? Please!

      And frankly, I am sick and tired of being talked down to. Whether it’s a commentary on the 50’s or the country we live in today isn’t worth considering, because it’s bullshit either way. PROPAGANDAVILLE doesn’t even require the tiniest bit of thought whatsoever. It’s all been done for you. Not only does it tell you how to think, but how to feel. This movie is finally so condescending that one-celled animals will be offended (Thanks MST3K!). A movie that purports to be about freewill and expression sure doesn’t show much faith in its audience to figure it out on their own. In reality, PROPAGANDAVILLE is a clear example of how Hollywood thinks we are nothing but a bunch of morons. That we haven’t a clue at all what’s good for us and we should just be weaned on their judgement alone. God forbid we ever rely on our own, huh? Frankly, the makers of this movie can bite me!

      Why did they do it? Why did they have to take such a good idea and ruin it? I just don’t get it! And if movie critics are so starved for something to commend that they have to reward crap like PROPAGANDAVILLE, than they should all just be shot!!! (Ebert especially deserves a smack in the head for his comments.)