alomba1328 Re: Zen Bones' commentary about Levittown being a "segregated" community with "no blacks, Asians, gays, Hispanics or Arabs" living in it: While Levittown was initially conceived as a segregated development, much has changed in fifty years. This town is now a culturally diverse community. Many Hispanics, African-Americans, Asians, and Arabs make their home here (visit one of Levittown's three high schools and see for yourself.) It is also important to note that this "isolated, limited, small town community" is 20 minutes from the New York City line and 40 minutes from Manhattan. There are four large universities within a 10 mile radius, one of which boasts a major metropolitan law school. It is five minutes from Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, which is the Long Island equivalent to Madison Square Garden. It is a shame that the film chose to portray Levittown as a culturally dead hick town that has never heard of the civil rights movement.

schlag This movie reminds me very much of the semi-accurate documentary "Roger And Me". It begins with an interesting overview of the origins of Levittown, including archival footage of interviews with William Levitt, who conceived the idea. Initially, the movie seems to take efforts to show the types of people who lived or continue to reside in this planned community.There are many people interviewed who are evidently the original homeowners, and quite often they are just average, everyday people giving their view on life in Levittown. But then there are some others who appear when the satirical element begins in this film. One of the more amusing is the woman who's house is haunted with ghosts (or so she says) or the couple who notice their neighbor walking three different dogs, three times a day.But one of the more irritating is the seemingly contrived performance of a wannabe karaoke singer who lets us sit in on his therapy session. While he pours out his feelings of worthlessness and of being "trapped" in the town, one can only wonder if this poor soul is nothing more than a wannabe comic auditioning for a gig with an unfunny bit of putdown shtick. The mere idea that living in Levittown puts people in therapy seems to be a silly, politically correct notion that is just so worn out, it's not even believable.There are two notable people who show up in the film: Bill Griffith, creator of the comic strip "Zippy the Pinhead"; and Eddie Money, the '80's singer best known for hit hit "Two Tickets To Paradise" (Money actually is shown perforiming his anthem before an audience at his alma-mater). The contrasts between each of them is very evident. Griffith, like the lame karaoke singer, seems to take pride in belittling Levittown, while Money, who does express that he moved on, still seems to be fond of the place.The satire actually works in a few instances, the more memorable moment being the intercutting of a real estate agent giving the viewer a tour of a home up for sale, all the while trying to put the best spin on an otherwise sad situation. On the other hand, there seems to be a real effort made to portray the VFW veterans as buffoons during a flag-buring ceremony.This wasn't a bad film, but more like one that just ran out of steam. The interesting personalities in the beginning of the film expand out a small amount, but the tone really turns to more of a mocking one in the end. This comes off somewhat condescending as if the message were it's tragic if one were to live or be raised in suburbia.

Susan Wonderland is a humorous look about the planned community of Levittown on Long Island, NY. Along with some brilliant historical footage, the film consists mainly of interviews with some of the town's kookier but endearingly genuine residents. The movie is sort of like Michael Moore's "Roger and Me" [about the town of Flint, MI] but without a cornball premise and without a self-absorbed director/narrator/"star". In fact, the best thing about this film is that talented director John O'Hagan stays completely out of it, letting his subjects tell the story. (The bartender who sings the national anthem is the funniest unstaged bit of film I've seen in years.) Someone made the comment that the film is mean-spirited but I don't think so. Yes, the people are often unintentionally hilarious... but no one forced them to do this movie. On the contrary, they seem to crave the attention. Mean-spirited is chasing someone around with a camera against their will, or being entertained by such.

Beckett-5 This is the worst piece of film I've ever seen. It is nothing more than a hack job of levittown. I grew up in Levittown, spent the better part of my life there and I go back to visit my family and friends as often as I can. Of those people that I know and love, and even those that I hate, not a single one of them is represented in this mockumentary. Not everyone in Levittown believes there are ghosts that come into their house to drink their juice or goes around having orgies. Not every child who grows up there turns into a delinquent or spends their life lamenting the fact that they grew up in Levittown. This pathetic excuse for a documentary does nothing to actually document Levittown as it is or as it was. It's no better or worse then anywhere else, but to watch this film, you would think it was an insane asylum. To call this film a documentary is a disservice to the genre and to the town.