What a joy. What an absolute treasure this movie is. What a gem. Change happens. Stagnation is not good. Do not hate what is different. Embrace individuality.

And it has Reese Witherspoon, total honey babe, and Tobey Maguire, who bids fair to be a serious honey in 10 more years or so. And William H. Macy as the sitcom father, perfect (as usual) as a slightly clueless but generally well-meaning kind of guy who just takes a while to get it.

And Don Knotts. I've always thought there was something kind of creepy about Don Knotts, even in The Incredible Mr. Limpet...

The details of this town-in-the-TV-show are well thought out, and the world they're in holds together well, even when it is unraveling...one wonders how Tobey explains Reese's absence when he gets home, but hey, I'm sure he'll figure something out...

And of course, the brilliant use of black-and-white and color...for that alone, this movie is worth seeing, just from a filmmaking perspective...taking the idea of Cocteau's blue rose and turning it into the basis of the look of the whole movie. Wow.

And finally, I do have to mention one of the best scenes in the film: the townspeople, trying to stop the ideas that their kids are getting from reading the novels in the library, burn the books...and for one second, you see the firefighters tending the bonfire that is slowly burning down, shoveling more books on it...they have become Fahrenheit 451, bringing to life one of the books they are trying to destroy. Perfect.

See it, love it, feel good about it, this one is a small treasure.