American Splendor (2003)

American Splendor: Directed by Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini. With Chris Ambrose, Joey Krajcar, Josh Hutcherson, Cameron Carter. An original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar.

“This is really a great film about Harvey Pekar, the underground comic book writer who created the comic book series u0026quot;American Splendoru0026quot;. Iu0026#39;m surprised this movie hasnu0026#39;t garnered more critical attention than it has. The movie basically takes you from the end of Harveyu0026#39;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 Pekaru0026#39;s surroundings that really gives it that u0026quot;garage saleu0026quot; 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 canu0026#39;t draw. He comes up with the narrative, but is only able to show stick figures as the actual characters in the drawings. Harveyu0026#39;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 u0026quot;ordinaryu0026quot; 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 u0026quot;American Splendoru0026quot; is born.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTo 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 donu0026#39;t bump into one another too badly, as had happened in Harveyu0026#39;s past marriages. Harvey is a man who has very un-mundane statements to make about his mundane world, but doesnu0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe 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 u0026quot;warts and moreu0026quot; 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 u0026quot;Big Fat Liaru0026quot;. 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.”