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33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff., February 6, 2004
Being familiar with Harvey Pekar's comic book American Splendor, I was really pleased to see the movie was about as close to the source material as any other movie I've ever seen. I haven't had an opportunity to read Our Cancer Year, a graphic novel by Harvey and his wife Joyce about Harvey's bout with cancer, but that storyline is also incorporated into this movie.
Harvey Pekar, played by Paul Giamatti, leads an ordinary life in the city of Cleveland, working as a file clerk in a VA hospital, divorced twice, scours garage sales and thrift stores for rare Jazz records, is thoroughly well read, and observes the people in his life and his surroundings fairly closely, taking it all in, good and bad. Harvey does tend to a rather morose individual; so don't come into this movie looking for tales of happiness and joy. A chance meeting with a greeting card artist and future underground comic legend Robert Crumb develops in to a long-standing friendship through their similar interests. Once Crumb becomes famous for his unusual style of comic books, Harvey decides he wants to try his hand at it, creating, with the help of Crumb's illustrations, stories about his life titled American Splendor. No superheroes here, but more of a realistic portrayal of his own life, warts and all. Soon he develops cult fame, and meets his future wife, Joyce, a comic book storeowner from Delaware. Harvey's fame manifests itself in a sort of bizarre fashion, leading to a number of appearances on David Letterman's late night talk show, and even trickles down to people he knows and includes in his book, specifically his ultra nerdy co-worker and friend Toby Radloff, played wonderfully by Judah Friedlander.
One of the things I really enjoyed about this movie was the inclusion of the real Harvey Pekar and other people in his life, such as his wife, Joyce, and his very odd friend, Toby Radloff. Harvey does some narration, and appears in a few scenes with other, real life people, who are portrayed by actors in the movie, in scenes between the scenes, if that makes sense. It allows for a comparison between the actors playing the characters and the real life people those characters are based on. It sounds like it would be a little disjointed, but directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini pull it off wonderfully. What was most interesting to me was how much Paul Giamatti got into the character of Harvey, from physical appearance, speech, dress, attitude, and even mannerisms. Sometimes I wasn't sure if I was watching Paul Giamatti's Harvey Pekar or the real Harvey Pekar. One of my favorite scenes is one where Harvey discusses the peculiarity of his name, and how odd it was that he found a couple of other people in the phonebook who shared his name.
Presented in a wide screen format, the movie looks great. Also included are a plethora of extras, including a reprint of a comic insert Harvey Pekar created for Entertainment Weekly, a group commentary including the real Harvey Pekar, a featurette, and a few hidden items that aren't too hard to find. (The one with the real Toby Radloff is great.)
Cookieman108
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33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating underground figure, October 6, 2003
Like Crumb and Ghost World (both great films in their own right), American Splendor focuses on a subculture that is seldom glimpsed by the mainstream --that of underground comic book writers. American Splendor is the name of a comic book created by Harvey Pekar, played in this film by Paul Giamatti, who expertly captures the personality and nuances of Pekar. We know this because this film is part documentary, with the real Pekar (and other characters dramatized in the film) giving commentary throughout. This technique of mixing the real with the fictionalized works well for this movie, which is about a person who is almost obsessively introspective and constantly wondering about his identity. Although he is a counterculture hero of sorts, Pekar lived most of his life in an extremely low key manner --as a file clerk for a VA hospital. Most of his comic books were derived from the people and events he experienced at work and around the streets of Cleveland. At the start of the film, Pekar's wife has left him, complaining that she cannot stand the "plebeian life" anymore. Although Pekar himself is hardly content with his own life, he also seems to require it. At one point he muses that he'd be lost without his work routine. Later, one of his female fans named Joyce (Hope Davis) writes to Pekar and they get married almost immediately, "skipping the whole courtship thing," as Joyce puts it. Joyce is a fellow misfit, and they seem like a perfect match. The strength of this film is in the way it captures the whole sense of life (to borrow a phrase from Ayn Rand) of Harvey Pekar. Before seeing this, I had never heard of him or his comic book, but I am always intrigued by people who live on the fringes and create something original from their unconventional vantage points. Pekar reveals himself as a perverse sort of character who seems to need a degree of conflict, even misery, in his life. As he gains in popularity, it seems likely that he could, like his friend and collaborator Robert Crumb, have launched a career out of his art and quit his day job, but he doesn't do this until the very end when he formally retires. He appeared several times on David Letterman's Late Night show, but finally resented the way the host used him for laughs. I enjoyed the scene of his final appearance on the show, when he publicly insults the smug Letterman; I wish more people would do things like that. Directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, helped by the cast and the actual characters of course, have created a masterpiece in this multifaceted portrayal of a unique modern artist.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not a superhero.............just some guy., June 22, 2004
Check this out. This is mostly a biopic about underground comic book creator, Harvey Pekar, but there are some documentary elements thrown in as well. The REAL Harvey Pekar narrates this fantastic film even criticizing the filmmakers for picking a guy (Paul Giamatti) that he claims looks nothing like him. There are times throughout the movie where we're treated to the real Harvey, his wife, and friends in an interview format. Harvey Pekar eventually made it all the way to David Letterman in the '80s. Instead of recreating the scene on film, the filmmakers instead used the actual footage from the show. We all love Harvey. It's kind of hard not to. He's just some guy trying to live his life while wading through all the BS and stupidity that surrounds him. He gets so sick of it that he finally puts it down in the form of a comic book. The rest is history. Absoulutely one of the best films of 2003. Check it out.
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