American Splendor (2003) User Reviews

Fascinating Wackos

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 15 November 2005]

I guess I am sucker for biographies of weird people. This certainly qualifies for that.

What makes this film different from others is the combination of fictional and real people playing the two main characters: Harvey and Joyce Pekar. For most of the film, Paul Giamatti portrays Pekar - the main focus of the film, and Hope Davis plays his wife, Joyce. However, interspersed in the film are comments from the real Harvey and Joyce. Strange!!!

The only thing stranger that the film structure is the story of these actual people. You wouldn't think that two dull introverts like this could be made to look so interesting, but they are. What a testimony to the job the filmmakers did here....and the actors. Giamatti was amazing.

After seeing this movie, I was inspired to go out and obtain several of Harvey Pekar's comic books. Whew! I should have stuck with just the movie. The comics stink!! Don't waste your money.

The Quixotic Burden of Being Both Ordinary and Gifted

[lawprof · 7/10 · 17 August 2003]

So-called "underground comics" have been around for a long time but they took on new life in the 60s when anger at racism and the Vietnam War led to new strips, some engagingly pornographic. The rise of an alternative press, largely bicoastal, provided readers with often sharp and incisive and not infrequently insipid comics.

Complementing the regular appearance of topical newspaper comic strips, comics also sprouted in similar form but not in content to the eagerly anticipated ten cent publications of my childhood. Stores specializing in these comics appeared in urban areas and near some campuses.

Into this scene came Harvey Pekar, the anti-hero from America's Heartland, along, later, with his wife, Joyce Brabner. "American Splendor," a comic series still treasured by segments of an aging population, was his contribution to a divided and troubled nation. And this movie is a minor gem of cultural recollection.

The film starts with Harvey as a little boy trick-or-treating in his Cleveland neighborhood. His companions are all decked out as Superheroes but Harvey is in ordinary street clothes which prompts questioning, perhaps a challenge, by a would-be neighbor with a tray of treats. Harvey is less a committed non-conformist than he is simply out of the peer jetstream.

Segue to a twice divorced Harvey who lives in an apartment dominated by LPs and books - and trash - and employed as a Veterans Administration medical center file clerk. As portrayed by Paul Giamatti, Harvey isn't desperately unhappy or even neurotically despondent. He has a life but it isn't complete. He doesn't rage against his fixed station in life but he wonders: Why?

The real Harvey turned his introspective queries about ordinary life into a crude series of comics (he couldn't draw for offal) which a successful illustrator-friend recognized as having marketing potential. While not anti-existentialist, Harvey's stories bucked a pseudointellectual trend by highlighting without despair his character's everyday life. The result, "American Splendor," appeared to sell well without bringing any significant income to its creator.

The "American Splendor" series of comics adumbrated the similar pictorial descriptions of "Mr. Urban Everyman" that now appear in formerly alternative but now mainstream papers like New York's The Village Voice.

Into Harvey's bleak (and well-filmed) pad and life comes Joyce Brabner, a comics fan who connects from afar with the Pekar persona. Played with insight and vitality by Hope Davis, Joyce sojourns to Cleveland to meet Harvey and never leaves. They marry.

In a land dominated by TV where freaks and saints both can enjoy fifteen minutes of fame, Pekar becomes an irregular guest on late night national TV shows. The irony, beautifully shown here, is that the TV interludes provide brief occupancy of luxury hotel suites while Harvey's imperative to keep his day job never ceases.

Joyce and Harvey have a close but quixotic relationship. She wants kids, he doesn't. He accepts living in Cleveland, she needs to dash off to the globe's tinderboxes to aid children in crisis.

A true crisis for Harvey is a cancer diagnosis with the uncertainty of outcome darkening the couple's life. His plight is depicted with short but painful realism. As both resistance to the disease and a new artistic partnership, Joyce and Harvey write "Our Cancer Year," a comic strip account of what was hardly a comic time.

Veering between comedy and drama, Harvey and Joyce's story is uneven but so is life and "American Splendor" captures that reality beautifully. A clever approach that works has the real Harvey, and to a lesser extent the real Joyce, alternate with Giamatti and Davis in telling their tales. The real Harvey is less dramatic than his counterpart but his wry and disarming irony suggests a man who has managed to stay in control of his life. Hope Davis, uncharacteristically un-blond, looks a lot like the actual Joyce.

Giamatti captures Harvey's aligning and merging of a unique and insightful creativity with an ordinary life populated by a variety of friends and co-workers all with their own quirks. Harvey doesn't try to change them: he simply incorporates the gang into his stories. They're the "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood" of the 60s and 70s underground comics scene.

Well-filmed and acted, "American Splendor" is worth seeing. It brings back memories for some and insight for all.

7/10.

Wonderful story, another gem of a performance by Giamatti

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 24 February 2008]

In the list of people who were cheated out of an Oscar - well, forget the Oscar, how about not even a nomination - Paul Giamatti should be near the top of the list for "Sideways." Here, playing "American Splendor" comic writer Harvey Pekar, he gives earlier evidence for his gift of characterization.

The film is done in an interesting way - it's interspersed with the real Pekar and his real wife Joyce, and where it normally would be intrusive, it isn't in this case. Pekar is a file clerk who started writing comics about his miserable life. His stories caught on with the public, and he found himself invited on "Letterman" several times. A lonely man, he also found a wife when Joyce wrote to him to get a copy of the latest comic book. On meeting her for the first time, he said, "I need to tell you now. I've had a vasectomy." Yet during a bout with cancer, he and Joyce wound up with Danielle, a friend's daughter. A man with nothing who wanted to leave a footprint ends up with fame, a family, and a cancer cure, all of which he has chronicled in his comics.

The performances are right-on, very real, and very much like the characters the actors play. As Joyce, Hope Davis is excellent and manages to keep a poker face. In the almost scary scene of Joyce and Harvey's first date, she throws up her dinner and has to face Harvey's trashed, overcrowded apartment. She then says, "Harvey, I think we should skip the courtship and just get married." She's a quiet riot. Judah Friedlander is great as Pekar's work friend Toby, a nerd among nerds who gets a bit of fame himself through Harvey when he has a gig on M-TV.

And Giamatti is an amazing Pekar - shleppy and miserable. Definitely one of the best actors we have today.

Excellently made film.

creative biopic

[Buddy-51 · 27 March 2004]

In `American Splendor,' Paul Giamatti plays Harvey Pekar, the comic book creator who became famous as a recurring guest on the David Letterman Show. A resident of Cleveland, Pekar was a socially backward man who found he had the talent to translate the pain, loneliness and frustration of his own unhappy life into universal truths, writing material that other artists would then illustrate in comic book form. He began a series entitled `American Splendor,' which was really an ongoing autobiographical narrative, drawing on people and events in his own life as his source of inspiration. The film, a pseudo-documentary of sorts, tells his life story by cutting back and forth between both staged reenactments of the events in the stories and interviews with Pekar himself commenting on those events.

`American Splendor' is an offbeat little gem that, in many ways, approximates the look and style of a comic book. As the story plays itself out, captions often appear on the screen, as well as illustrations from Pekar's actual work based on the scene we are witnessing. Robert Pulcini and Sheri Springer Berman, who wrote and directed the film together, create a surrealistic tone by having Pekar and his real friends and companions frequently appear on screen next to the actors who are portraying them (some of them dead ringers for the originals). This technique brings a homespun, homey sweetness to the film. `American Splendor' is a paean to all the social misfits in the world, people who, for whatever reason, can't seem to fit into society's prescribed mold but who often develop strong, meaningful bonds with similar individuals. The movie is also a tribute to the power of art, both for the artist who finds purpose and release through his work and for those to whom his work speaks on a personal and emotional level. The people who inhabit Pekar's strange world – both in reality and within the borders of his comic strip boxes – are seen in the film as warm, good-natured individuals, not socially astute, perhaps, but not losers either.

The emotional focal point for the film is Harvey's relationship with his wife, Joyce, beautifully played by Hope Davis. Despite the somewhat bizarre nature of their marriage, Harvey and Joyce forge a lasting commitment based on reciprocity and devotion. In fact, in the latter sections, the film achieves an emotional depth one doesn't expect it to early on, partly because Harvey is dealt a cruel blow of fate that he and his wife are forced to navigate through together. Yet, the film as a whole is filled with a sly, deadpan, mischievous sense of humor that demonstrates a keen grasp of the absurdities of life.

As Pekar, Paul Giametti turns in a flawless performance, capturing the nebbishness, cantankerousness and ultimate likeability of the man he is portraying.

In both style and content, `American Splendor' is aptly named.

American brilliance

[jotix100 · 10/10 · 9 September 2003]

I must confess that I was a bit apprehensive in going to see this film. I thought it would be one of those movies that are hyped to the max by the adoring critics, but that it would turn out to be a darling of the reviewers and not the great film everyone was making it to be.

Well, I was thoroughly surprised by the brilliant film making shown by the directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. They have created a film that works in different levels. First, it is the story of Harvey Pekar told in cinematic terms. Secondly, by presenting the real Harvey Pekar to speak to the camera as he is interviewed, it adds another dimension about the directors' vision in bringing him to us to tell us in his own words, that yes, there is a real person whose life we are getting to know. And thirdly, it works as the weird comic strip that Harvey Pekar might have conceived in his mind.

Harvey Pekar is an example of a strange man who lives and functions within the American society, yet, for all practical purposes, he is in his own little world of collecting books and records and writing his wry observations on what he sees around him. Are we to say we are normal and Harry is not? What if it turns out that Harvey had it all figured out and we had no clue? Let the viewer decide for himself.

The directors great achievement is the brilliant casting. Paul Giamatti is the closest thing anyone would have selected to the real Harvey. Up to now, I have only seen Mr. Giamatti in comedies that didn't have the weight of this film. His take on Harvey is so intense that there are parts when we see the actor and immediately, the real Harvey comes on a different scene. Separating them is almost impossible, as Giamatti's performance leads to Harvey and vice versa. He is totally believable here. He proves that whatever he is doing on screen is what we would expect the real Harvey to do on his own life.

The other incredible casting is the one of Hope Davis as Joyce Brabner. Ms. Davis gets the essence of Joyce with very little effort. We can almost see that the Joyce of Hope Davis will result in the actual Joyce we see in the interviews as herself. The resemblance is uncanny. Ms. Davis is outstanding in the film. We wonder what could have attracted her to Harvey, in the first place. Of course, we realize her passion for comics, but on a physical level, these two, as a couple, are miles and miles apart. Yet, their marriage, unlike Harvey's other two before her, survives and grows.

Ms. Davis scenes with the young Danielle are pure poetry. We can see it in her face that motherhood for her is very important, yet, she cannot have a child of her own with Harvey. She is thoroughly rewarded at the end with the arrival of Danielle who finds in Joyce a kind soul and a mother because her real one could not be bothered with her.

The rest of the cast is just as magnificent. Judah Friedlander as Toby is both funny and pathetic. He is another product of the society he lives in. Also effective, James Urbaniak as the illustrator Bob Crumb who sees in Harvey's stories the potential for great comic books.

This is a triumph for all that were involved in this film.

A True Super-Hero!

[departed07 · 10/10 · 30 January 2005]

Throughout the years, people have read dozens of comic books: Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, The Green Latern, X-Men, Hulk, etc., looking for escape from reality, but at the same time, looking for a relation from those books. With "American Splendor" on the other hand, it's quite a different comic book. What makes it so special? It's depicting real life where it shows the character Harvey Pekar in different situations.

"American Splendor" is a comic/drama biography about the life of Harvey Pekar(Played by Paul Giamatti) in which the film plays like a comic book showing scenes that are real and fiction. Even the real Harvey makes appearances quite often in the film to talk about his life, his wife(Joyce) and everything that sort of made him the person who he is today.

Harvey Pekar can be described as one of those characters who don't seem to give a damn about the world. The reason that I root for this character is that he's the type person that lives in his own world, from not giving a crap about the incidents in the world, to not having a formal college education, to working at a dead end job where in the future, people are still laughing at him. And yet, I don't blame him. I am reminded of two other movies that had losers, but made an impact on male society: "The Big Lebowski" and "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" in which both male characters didn't have to worry about anything or go out on dates, or even pleasing society(shame on you, people).

All in All, American Splendor is a great movie. Though the film's target audience are for guys, I still encourage people to see this movie. The film also stars, Hope Davis portraying Harvey's wife, Joyce.

One of the Best Films!

A poor story told splendidly.

[Pavel-8 · 6/10 · 14 March 2004]

"American Splendor" tells the story of a semi-curmudgeonly middle-aged man (Paul Giamatti) who has turned his blase life into fodder for a successful comic book. That subject matter is not excessively interesting, but the what of the film isn't as important or enjoyable as the how. This is a classic cinematic example of style over substance, as there may not have been a more creative film released in 2003.

The film is based upon the comic book "American Splendor," which apparently gained a cult following in the '70s and '80s. The comic book and the movie trace the life of Harvey Pekar, who is also the author of the comics. He is a curmudgeonly thirty-something who lives a mundane existence, working as an file clerk at a hospital while buying and selling jazz LPs on the side.

This is the rare film in which the technical aspects drive the film more than the story does. Most movies aim to pull you along with the suspense of what's going to happen next in the plot. On top of the extremely apt jazz music that drenches the movie, "American Splendor" keeps your attention because you wonder what creative editing is going to happen next. Two aspects of the editing uniquely stand out, the breaking down of the imaginary third wall and the mixture of animation and live-action.

First, the filmmakers break down the cinematic third wall by mixing actual archival footage and faux behind-the-scenes documentary-style clips with the narrative. In layman's terms, scenes featuring the actors are interspersed with scenes of the actual people the actors are portraying. For example, immediately following a sequence with Paul Giamatti as Pekar, the film cuts to the set where the scene was shot. There, the real Pekar rambles on about the just-filmed scene, while everyone else goes about their movie business. Other quirks include the use of real excerpts from "Late Night with David Letterman" and then later creating fictional episodes as well.

The other creative technique that pops up throughout the film is the interaction of live action and animation. Not in the usual cinematic manner like "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", but in more of a comic book style. The very two-dimensional cartoons appear in parts such as the classic devil-and-angel-on-the-shoulder scene when Pekar faces a decision. All of this wildly singular design work merges to drive the movie forward. Usually the "What will happen next?" factor in the plot pushes the film, but in "American Splendor," not knowing what will happen next from an editing standpoint is the primary reason to keep watching.

In fact, it's about the only reason to keep watching. While the film is splendidly made, the characters still must draw interest for it to succeed, and on that front, "American Splendor" falls flat. Pekar and company are quirky, which is not necessarily bad, but in a weird and dark manner, not in a good humourous way. None of their qualities are noble or redeeming, a la "Return of the King". They're not even endearing, along the lines of an unusual film like "Punch-Drunk Love". This lack of high qualities makes the characters difficult to invest in emotionally. There aren't even any stock characters, the kind whose story arc you can pinpoint from the minute they appear on the screen. Some will no doubt love this uniqueness, but while I praise the filmmakers for crafting original characters, the lack of any rooting interest in or familiarity with the characters prevented me from connecting personally at all.

I should point out that the absence of involving characters has nothing to do with the acting itself. Giamatti ("Planet of the Apes", "Big Fat Liar"), the most recognizable face, is stellar as the grumpy Pekar, embodying him so perfectly that Pekar himself comes across as just a poor imitation. The rest of the cast fills in well, but also is limited by the written characters, which consistently come across as two-dimensional caricatures, rather than the actual people they are representing. For example, Hope Davis plays Pekar's love interest, and while she nails the look and mannerisms, her character often seems to be making decisions for no apparent reason. That's an attribute that is embedded in the entire film, but at little fault of the cast.

The overall vibe reminds me of "The Good Girl". The film is generally well done, with decent to quite good acting. But there is no rooting interest, and the story is void of noble qualities. American Splendor varies from all other films on the creative side though, and that freshness and uniqueness causes me to highly recommend this film to people who are interested in and intrigued by filmmaking and the cinematic process.

Bottom Line: Good for film students, but if you're a typical movie-goer, looking for an entertaining evening, I'd point you elsewhere. 6/10, almost entirely for technical merit.

Russian doll

[alexgoldfinch · 10/10 · 25 November 2004]

It's always hardest to write about what you love and I not only love, but also, to steal a joke from Woody Allen in ANNIE HALL, loaf, luff and lerve this magnificent film. Therefore this will be difficult. Here goes anyway...

No-one can possibly deny that this is innovative in its use of the real Harvey Pekar (and people from his life) frequently intruding into the fictionalised account. But this is more than just a neat trick. It works brilliantly. Instead of distancing the viewer from the narrative makes one feel more involved in the film's world. How dare this work? This kind of arty-farty stuff is usually guaranteed to annoy me - but this is nothing short of revelatory in its Russian doll-like idea of having fiction within fiction within fact...and you don't need to be some kind of high-brow film critic to appreciate it!

All the performances are gob-smackingly good, and there isn't one moment in the film that bores, irritates, patronises or rings a false note. The cast inhabit their roles like they were born to play them. and the determination not to idealise them or their situations, makes my cynical anti-Hollywood production values heart sing for joy.

Do not, I beg you, be put off by the epithet "cult" with which this film has been tarred as if it would appeal only to comic-book fans. No, the appeal here is universal - dealing with Pekar's existential worries and his search for the meaning in his life. It's criminal that American SPLENDOR with all its wit, heart and slickness isn't more highly regarded or more widely known.

Masterpiece.

Postmodern comedy

[Jithindurden · 7/10 · 26 February 2022]

This really can only be considered as a postmodern film more than any other genre. It's a biographical drama, a comic book adaptation, a dark comedy and a documentary at parts. The protagonist is supposed to be an ordinary man who goes through stuff that makes the story interesting. But as I see it, he was never ordinary. Of course, if he didn't stumble upon a lot of stuff that lead to this path, he might have been considered an ordinary man by the rest of the world but it won't make him that. He is an eccentric man with a lot of issues that have been heightened in ways that can only be American into a special annoying obnoxious man. He's open about it and sometimes the way the film portrays him, it is doubtful if he even understands it, and other times it shows him as he knows better than it. Ultimately I can only see it as the deconstruction of the American dream as a faux concept and the people suffering through it mentally and physically.

A modern classic of successful innovation

[Chris_Docker · 9/10 · 25 August 2003]

Successfully innovative, American Splendor combines fiction and reality in a spellbinding and amusing way, winning awards at Cannes and Sundance, and proving its maxim that life is pretty complex (and endlessly fascinating) stuff . . .

The story features Harvey Pekar, as himself, as the played by actor Paul Giamatti and as the comic book persona that he has created based on himself. Pekar is downbeat, depressed, in a dead end filing job, rather bitter. His best friend is a self-confessed nerd. Yet when the events of his life are epitomized in comic book snapshots they are intensely poignant, they seem to reach the disenfranchised, the dysfunctional within each of us. We follow him into a marriage that is as weird as he is. The originality of the material is reflected in its postmodern style of presentation, self-awareness of audience-manipulation blending seamlessly with entertainment and artistic delivery. Scenes are introduced and blended with comic book taglines, storyboarding, and even transitions from interloping set discussions with the real Pekar to the actor playing the scene under discussion. If it sounds pretentious, it's not – simply because it works so well and in an unpretentious way. Lovingly created and very moving. Probably the first real classic of 2003 and not to be missed, and for lovers of jazz/blues a soundtrack collectors item.

(Seeing it at the Edinburgh International Film Festival I also had the privilege of seeing the real life Pekar, his wife and adopted daughter together with Paul Giamatti, truly topping off a multi-media experience haha!)

American Peculiar...Harvey Pekar Comic-Book "Fame"...His Story...it's 1/300 Million

[LeonLouisRicci · 7/10 · 16 August 2022]

The Success of "Underground Comics" was an Antithesis to the Founding, Creation, and Distribution were Initially "Direct to Comic-Shops", Sold on the Streets of San Francisco, and Anywhere "Freak Flags" Waved with Anti-Establishment Glee.

After the Height-Ashury Became Nightly News Chronicling the Immigrant Youth and Their Migration to that Land of Make-Believe, Things Opened-Up for Previously Ignored or Misrepresenting Misanthropes.

"Ghost World" (from the Underground Comic of the same name) is a Richer, Better Entertainment Celebrating the Odd-Folks that Live on the Fringe, but have Something to Say and Often Say it in Colorful Insights.

The Documentary "Crumb", Looks Closely and Playfully at R. Crumb (Robert Crumb) and is a Great Film by Johnathan Demme.

These "Touchtone" Movies that Exposed the Masses to a World of Wonderful People that were Always With Us, but We Rarely Paid Any Attention. Just too Odd, these People and Their Lives. But After the Counter-Culture-Revolution, Things Changed in The Time, as Dylan Sang.

So here We Have "Harvey Pekar '' of "American Splendor" Comic-Book Fame, in All His Unkempt, Untidy, Self Drawn in the Book by Crumb and then Various Other Artists.

Harvey Got His "15 Minutes" and Hardly Knew What to Do, so He Kept On Keeping His Life-Stories with Little Change of Attitude. This is the Story.

In the 50's it was Said "This is New York, There Are 8 Million Stories Here, This is One of Them", Ditto, but Now it's, Over 300 Million Stories, Yet to be Told.

This Film May Inspire a Few.

Kudos to All Involved Making This as Entertaining and Informative Movie as Possible.

Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant Paul Giamatti

[mmitsos-1 · 10/10 · 29 January 2005]

I'm sorry, but I just saw this movie this week on cable, and went out and bought the DVD immediately thereafter. I have since watched it about 15 times, so far. I'm not a comic book fan (at all), and I've never heard of Harvey Pekar (though perhaps vaguely remember his appearances on David Letterman, since seeing this film). Giamatti's performance alone is worth the time in watching this film. I don't think anything Brando, Pacino, or DeNiro has done, to name a few, compares to what Giamatti pulls off in this film. And with that said, perhaps I'm still too new and enthusiastic a viewer to be reviewing his performance. However, PG's every nuance, from his eyebrow twitches and raises, to the shrug of his shoulders, to his speech pattern, to the manner in which he says "OK, OK" early on to his doctor when he's getting his throat checked to his walk...EVERYTHING is just so wonderfully "channeled". He offers such a natural character, and whether or not he is Pekar spot on, I don't know. However, he created his own wonderful big little character. (The scene in which he is talking to Joyce (Hope Davis' character) on the phone, urging her to meet him in Cleveland, is quietly hysterical).

Hope Davis was also great, and it's amazing how much her natural voice and speech pattern resemble that of Pekar's wife. Full of laughs and pathos, in addition to wonderful jazz scores (I haven't checked if there's a soundtrack for the film...I hope that there is one)....this is a must-see film...absolutely brilliant! I don't even know if P. Giamatti was nominated for his performance, but he should have won every award that year, including the Oscar (or at least tie with Sean Penn). I know I have spent all this time commenting on just the two main characters, because they are both so breathtakingly brilliant in their interpretations. Therefore, I'll offer a note about the film overall as well.

First, the film is brilliantly executed. Combining both actors and original screenplay material along with some real-life footage of Harvey Pekar himself was very inventive. And, the use of this approach never bordered on being "cutesy" or clever, as Pekar's perspective and ongoing commentary truly validates the entire film. As I mentioned before, P. Giamatti seems to inhabit Pekar....and provides a very endearing portrait in the process. I have for so many years far preferred quieter, character-driven films, which happen to typically fall within the "indie" category. This film has simply solidified my love for character-driven stories. It is insightful, very droll, and full of pathos. I am now even contemplating subscribing to the comic book "American Splendor", and I am someone who ABSOLUTELY ABHORS all forms of animation. I particularly despise animated films, and only read "Cathy", "Dilbert", and "Doonesbury" from the strips. However, I might just start subscribing to "American Splendor". Because I missed this film when it first came out, I am not certain how large an audience it originally attracted, quite frankly. However, watching it has made me shun, just a little bit more, larger, Hollywood productions, including typical, cookie-cutter romantic comedies (as for another mass-produced Hollywood genre....action/adventure films...I've always hated them and never watch them). I won't turn into a snob and completely shun all Hollywood films, but there certainly is something to be said for quiet, thoughtful pieces that are accompanied by a refreshingly wonderful jazz soundtrack (too many films today appear to have been written around x number of popular songs...it can be quite annoying). As for this film, it's a treasure. Please rent it and ENJOY!

No plot, annoying characters, call me crazy but I liked it

[rooprect · 7/10 · 27 September 2012]

Never having heard of Harvey Pekar or the American Splendor comics, I had no idea what to expect, especially since the DVD cover makes it sound like some sort of romcom. Instead what you get is a very edgy yet polished, medium-bending presentation every bit as revolutionary as the original comic books were.

What I mean by "medium-bending" is that the storytelling medium (mostly biopic cinema) slips from film to documentary archival footage to comic book images seamlessly. We begin with a series of comic book panels, this morphs into Paul Giamatti as Harvey Pekar, then to the real Harvey as himself being interviewed about the movie, then back to Paul playing the role, more comic book panels, then footage of the real Harvey on the Letterman show, and so on. If it sounds confusing, it's not. Especially when you realize that the original American Splendor comics were drawn by several different illustrators each with their own style, you realize that this disjoint way of storytelling captures the spirit of the comics perfectly. A+ for creativity and originality; it reminded me of the excellent film "Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story" with Steve Coogan playing himself while also playing the 18th century nobleman Tristram, hopping back & forth from one reality to the other.

The story itself and particularly the characters were quirky but nothing out of the ordinary... and that's the point of the whole comic series. It's not about superheroes or talking cats but instead it's about an ordinary file clerk in Cleveland. His "adventures" are the day-to- day things that happen in his life, some days eventful, other days not so.

As such, the plot is about as interesting as any average joe's life. The beauty of the film is seeing how an ordinary life can be creatively and stylishly told, just like in the comic books.

I can't think of many films I could compare this to. Maybe the musical biopic "De-Lovely" about composer Cole Porter, or the equally challenging musical biopic "Beyond the Sea" starring Kevin Spacey as singer Bobby Darin. All of these are biopic films that brazenly challenge the standard method of storytelling, jumping between different realities and telling stories about people who are not necessarily heroic, or even likable. But that's what reality is all about, warts & all.

I didn't like it

[zetes · 5/10 · 5 February 2004]

This has to be #1 on my list of movies whose popularity I don't understand. It's occasionally humorous, but the story isn't very interesting or insightful. It's the biopic of a comic book writer (not artist) who, despite his success, worked as a file clerk most of his life. I like the idea of a biopic about an ordinary guy, but I didn't find Harvey Pekar's life especially interesting. My life deserves a movie more than this guy's. The worst part of it is that I found Pekar's own work trite and uninsightful. Have you ever heard the one about the old Jewish lady arguing with the cashier at the super market? Of course you have. You've heard it from any number of stand-ups in your life. But you've never heard it as unfunny as when Harvey Pekar tells the story. I liked the acting, especially Hope Davis, who plays Pekar's third wife. I love Pekar's co-worker who is obsessed with Revenge of the Nerds. And I did think that climactic speech about Pekar's phone book namesakes. That's the only time where I felt the film found any depth in its material. Otherwise, I thought American Splendor was kind of lame. 5/10.

Something different.

[Danny_G13 · 14 February 2004]

By no means your average true story, American Splendor blends fact with fiction to create a slightly surreal world. Surreal, because it's so down-to-earth. It's a tale about the life of Harvey Pekar, essentially a relative non-entity. His one saving grace is that he writes comic books, the twist being that they're not about superheroes or anything extraordinary. Rather, they're about gritty reality. Pekar is the star of his own stories, and the life he leads, the people he knows and the everyday things he does are the essence of what his stories entail.

It's a strange story, and to rate it as a movie seems odd, somehow. The guy has led a pretty staple life, and there's nothing in it which elevates him above anyone else. Then again, that's really the point. There are plenty of elements in here which we can all relate to, and consequently, we find ourselves drawn into it. Ultimately it's convincing.

The acting is generally pretty impressive, particularly from Paul Giamatti as Harvey. Given the real Harvey features in the movie (Hence the blending of fact and fiction) we are able to compare them, and it must be said Giamatti gets it spot on. He does a great job of portraying a grump with a heart. By no means is Pekar ever shown as a mercenary worker, but it's pretty obvious he's one of the good guys; hence another strength here. Because he's shown as wysiwyg, you feel like you either know him, or are him. He's the epitome of your average man, and not even just American.

It's a quirky subject for a movie, but it certainly works and entertains. It's so ordinary yet surreal that it demands your attention, and it's a worthwhile journey to go on.

For many people, this movie is a mirror.

An offbeat movie about an offbeat kind of man

[AlsExGal · 9/10 · 31 January 2010]

This is really a great film about Harvey Pekar, the underground comic book writer who created the comic book series "American Splendor". I'm surprised this movie hasn't garnered more critical attention than it has. The movie basically takes you from the end of Harvey's second marriage up to the point of his retirement as a file clerk. Pekar is living a life of quiet desperation - everything in his life is generic. The film lends a dingy quality to Pekar's surroundings that really gives it that "garage sale" look right down to the light fixtures in his apartment. Even the supermarkets and restaurants Harvey frequent make K-mart look classy. Unlike his friends and coworkers though, he is painfully aware of the reality of his life. He has a moment of clarity one day while waiting in line at the grocery store behind a woman who is arguing over why she should pay 1.50 for six glasses that are marked two dollars, when he thinks of a way to strike out at all of this - he decides to document his feelings in a comic. Unfortunately, Harvey can't draw. He comes up with the narrative, but is only able to show stick figures as the actual characters in the drawings. Harvey's big break is that he has become friends with underground comic Robert Crumb before Crumb was famous and the two were just a couple of "ordinary" guys looking for bargains at Cleveland rummage sales. Crumb is impressed with the statement Harvey is trying to make and agrees to do the illustrations, thus the comic "American Splendor" is born.

To me, the best part of this movie is the love story between Harvey and his third wife Joyce. These two people are just weird enough to make it work. What makes it work is that they have staked out their own individual claims to different enough territories in the land of weird that their respective neuroses don't bump into one another too badly, as had happened in Harvey's past marriages. Harvey is a man who has very un-mundane statements to make about his mundane world, but doesn't have any real illusions about changing it. Joyce is a self-diagnosed depressed anemic who has memorized the DSM 3 and is therefore happy to diagnose people with personality disorders and then pretty much takes them as she finds them, in spite of her claims of being a reformer. Because neither one wants to change the other, the relationship works.

The film is really cleverly done, with comic book illustrations showing what Pekar is thinking in various situations along with narration and a couple of interviews with the actual Pekar and his wife interspersed throughout the film giving it a real feeling of authenticity. Paul Giamatti is simply marvelous as the caustic "warts and more" Harvey Pekar. How often do you see an actor share the screen with the person he is playing, as happens in this film, and not even notice a blip in continuity? His performance is that good. Giamatti certainly deserves better than playing supporting roles in films like "Big Fat Liar". Kudos also to James Urbaniak for his small role as artist and illustrator Robert Crumb. For the small amount of time he is on the screen he really captures the essence of the guy.

Giamatti great and love the brilliant style of storytelling

[SnoopyStyle · 9/10 · 3 December 2015]

Harvey Pekar (Paul Giamatti) has always been an oddball guy bordering on being a misanthrope. He's a file clerk at a VA hospital in Cleveland and collects jazz albums. In 1962, he befriends outsider comics artist Bob Crumb at a garage sale. In 1975 after his wife leaves him, he starts writing stories for Crumb to illustrate. He becomes famous to his fans and to Joyce Brabner (Hope Davis). She is almost as awkward as him and they start a relationship.

Paul Giamatti is truly amazing and Harvey is such a great character for him. I simply love the mixing of the real characters with the comics and the actors. This style is brilliant and fits the subject matter. It becomes an electric blend of reality and surrealism.

The Real Deal

[sc8031 · 7/10 · 17 June 2008]

Creatively frustrated and socially withdrawn, an adult Harvey Pekar starts writing comic dialog based on his cynical situational observations in daily life. His friend, Robert Crumb, helps out by illustrating some early comics and American Splendor, the comic series, takes off. This movie explores Pekar's life and comic series to great emotional effect.

There are several main characters focused upon in the film. The movie occasionally switches to creative interviews with the real characters the movie is based on. With Harvey we are treated not to some typical emotional or bitter character, but someone very real and alive. Harvey has a harsh demeanor despite his good intentions, and this seems to color him in a grouchy way. The way he interacts with the world is bittersweet, something reflected in his created work.

Harvey Pekar is the real deal and this film and his comics represent a genuine slice of life. There are a number of amusing, poignant and funny lines, and splicing the film with footage of the real people the film is based upon is a nice creative touch. A naturally embittered man from urban Chicago, Pekar's life perfectly embodies the smoky Chicago jazz he is so fond of.

Ordinary life conveyed with extraordinary candor

[steven-f-freeman · 9/10 · 8 February 2009]

From the opening credits this movie captivated and continually surprised me, and in the end it's going to stay with me. American Splendor may not have the reach, scale or gravitas of a West Side Story or Godfather, but it is nevertheless nine stars for me.

And I think it's precisely because the film does not reach for the stars. American Splendor is an honest story on an honest scale, the real story of a regular guy who, "for the most part, lived in sh-t neighborhoods, held sh-t jobs." Harvey Pekar, we learn at the onset, is a real-life comic book character, but his were ANTI-superhero comics, about the challenges of everyday life: "No idealized sh-t; no phony bullsh-t." Not only is he not a superhero; he's also not a gangster or a gang member, a soldier or a spy, or anything we typically associate with high drama. Rather he's a Cleveland file clerk. Think about how often a file clerk is the star of a film, and you begin to get an idea of just how uncommon such honest stories are.

Now you might wonder why the story of a Cleveland file clerk would even be worth watching. But as Pekar observes, "ordinary life is actually pretty complex stuff." For example, after Pekar shares a brief, tender, heartfelt conversation with a former classmate he happens to run into, the glimpse of friendship/ affection/ love makes its ensuing absence almost unbearable.

The film, amazingly, captures the sweetness, sadness and complexity of ordinary life through a series of innovative maneuvers: having the real Harvey Pekar narrate and pop in to comment on the film along with his wife and friends and use of comic-strip scenes and video footage of Pekar's Dave Letterman appearances. But it's never innovation just to be different or even creative, but rather a way to maintain the honesty -- keeping the viewer in the know as to what's in front of and behind the camera. And rather than detract from the narrative sequence, the effects make the story all the more cohesive.

Pekar observes that although we inevitably lose the war (i.e., we die), we can win some battles along the way. Sometimes, though, even winning a single battle can seem next to hopeless. But although the odds were stacked mighty high against Pekar and American Splendor, both triumph boldly, an unqualified, wholehearted win that no subsequent loss, however inevitable, will ever undo.

A unique, peculiar and charming story about a true enigma of an individual

[pere-25366 · 7/10 · 19 April 2019]

American Splendor (2003) is a part-autobiographical, quasi-documentary film about Harvey Pekar, an underground comic book writer who was a key figure in breathing life (pun intended) into the graphic novel. Sick of the superhero comics that weren't a true illustration of everyday life, Pekar began to document parts of his life and adapt them into his stories; and, by doing so, found interest in his mundane existence. Giamatti finds the perfect note to play him and the film employs incredibly innovative effects that overlay comic book elements like speech bubbles and captions atop the live-action footage. Like its protagonist, the film is different, creative and weird and and it's *that* relationship of form and character that really draws you in as a viewer.

A wonderful, offbeat film about life.

[bobsgrock · 8/10 · 17 March 2008]

American Splendor accepts and embraces the worldview of its main character, Harvey Pekar, and that is what makes this film so enjoyable. Pekar is a very distressed, bitter, grumpy, and even angry person all throughout the film; I'm not sure if he smiles at all. Still, he is very lovable and we feel for him the whole way through. As the story goes, he begins to write a comic book about his life and all the crazy and wacky situations he has to deal with as a single man working as a file clerk in a VA hospital in Cleveland. What really interests me is the fact that even after Pekar becomes somewhat famous after the success of his comics, he continues to live the same life he did before he became a hit, if only to keep his life interesting so he could continue to write the comics. The acting is terrific, with Giamatti perfectly balancing the hard-edged and lovable parts of his character so we never completely hate him or love him. Hope Davis is also very strong as the clinically depressed Joyce who keeps Harvey in check. Overall, this is an immensely enjoyable and funny film about us; people who just live the common life and how we all go through things that can be made entertainment for others. Let's just hope we don't all act like Harvey Pekar. Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff.

Not an Independent Movie.

[caspian1978 · 6/10 · 20 September 2004]

Consider to yourself what an independent film is, but for me, if you have more than a million dollars in your budget, you are not making an independent film. Sure, a film that is not made under a studio "banner", meaning the film is being produced by an individual let alone an entire production company, can be considered independent. Still, if you have a decent size budget, you are far from the mass of independent film makers that are producing quality feature length films for under half a million. This is a good movie. The cast, the story, and the production value are all good. Several film festivals praised this movie for being on of there best features they showed in 2003. Still, this is far from a real independent movie (Clerks / Night of the Living Dead) that is produced for very to little money and is cast with fairly unknown actors. American Splendor is good but far from great.

Utterly unique (and fun) blend of documentary and dramatization

[runamokprods · 10/10 · 15 June 2012]

The true story of Harvey Pekar, a misanthropic file clerk and comic book fan, who met Robert Crumb, and had the brilliant idea to turn his everyday trials and tribulations into a comic book. Sort of everyman as superman.

The film has Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis (both uncanny and terrific) playing the real life Harvey and his off-beat mate, while occasionally the real Harvey comments on it all ('this guy you got playin' me...') either in narration, or on camera in a kind of white room limbo set.

So, like the comic, the film plays with levels of reality, but goes it one better. There's the real Harvey, his lightly fictionalized counter-part from the cartoons, and the two actors, who seem to be playing a combination of both real and comic book creation.

Its all wonderfully playful and funny but still has room to be quite touching and human on occasion, and raises all sorts of interesting questions about what is 'truth' in storytelling and in life – what is a 'documentary'?, Are our own accounts of lives 'true?

It's a house of mirrors that leaves you smiling, thoughtful and touched at the dignity and insight of 'normal' people – which seems to be a big part of Pekar's seemingly grumpy argument. A lovely film with humor, heart and art that goes out and creates its own rules.

What a disappointment

[lomelasz · 6/10 · 12 December 2004]

Sadly, i was disappointed with this movie. After hearing great things about it i rented it. Although Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis are utterly great in the movie, the movie's structure (especially when it flips back from Giamatti to the real Harvey Pekar) is flawed and wholly messy. Tobey the nerd is portrayed as a total retard which i suspect isn't the way the directors wanted him to be portrayed but wind up using him for much-needed laughs. And fail. I did like the fact that these were real people and found it intriguing but not enough to say that i really enjoyed it. It has its moments but what do you know? It was just a movie after all. 6/10

Just a little warning

[B.J. · 1/10 · 16 December 2003]

12/18/03

It is said that every life has a story. Harvey Pekar's life is the exception that proves the rule (whatever that dumb homily means). AMERICAN SPLENDOR is a truly tedious and boring 101 minute movie about a guy, his wife and his friends, none of whom I would want to spend ten minutes with outside of the movie theater. Okay, I've said enough already.