FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Lee Eisenberg I had never heard of Harvey Pekar or his work before "American Splendor" got released. Now that I've seen the movie, I'm impressed. The movie makes clear that Pekar (Paul Giamatti) didn't want to condescend to his audience. He just wanted to show life as it was. No sugar-coating, just the truth. As is often the cast with great artists, misery made for some fine work. An unusual trick that the movie uses is to intersperse footage of the real Pekar talking about why he created the cartoons that he did. He had some good things to say.Basically, this is what movies should be. It should go without saying that Giamatti does a perfect job as Pekar. Equal credit should go to Hope Davis as a fan whom he marries, as well as some other cast members (you gotta love what Pekar's friend says about "Revenge of the Nerds"). I'd also like to see the other movies directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. Definitely see it.Watch for a young Josh Hutcherson as the boy dressed as Robin.

estebangonzalez10 "If you're the kind of person looking for romance or escapism or some fantasy figure to save the day... guess what? You've got the wrong movie."From the very opening scene co-directors, Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, present us with a rather unconventional film by blending a feature narrative with documentary style footage. Through voice over narration, Harvey Pekar, introduces his character played by Paul Giamatti as an ordinary man living a complex and depressing life. So while this biopic follows a traditional narrative style, it also interrupts it by showing documentary footage of the real people being portrayed in the film explaining the events that took place. The film also includes animation throughout the narrative from Pekar's underground comics, so from the opening credits the audience is introduced to a very different, but clever biopic. Paul Giamatti gives one of his best performances to date and I was glad to finally see him play a lead role. If you are a fan of his work, than by no means will you want to miss this film because his portrayal of Harvey Pekar is perfectly captured in a very natural way. There is nothing ordinary about the character Paul plays, Harvey has a very depressive and unique view on life, and the way he portrays the normal events of his life are told in a sour but hilarious way. Harvey's story alone is worth knowing, but the way the film combines the different styles in this movie make it stand above other traditional biopics.The film tells the true story of Harvey Pekar (Paul Giamatti), an ordinary man living in Cleveland and working as a filing clerk in a VA hospital. He seems to get through each depressing day thanks to his enthusiasm for music and comic books, which he collects. One day while searching for LPs at a garage sale, he meets Robert Crumb (James Urbaniak). They become friends through their passion for jazz music and comics, and eventually Crumb becomes a famous comic book author. This inspires Harvey to begin writing about his ordinary life, and through his unique and dark sense of humor he eventually begins to have some underground success. American Splendor is the title he gives to his autobiographical graphic novels which narrate the common events that take place in his life. In his work he often includes his interesting co-workers: the autistic Toby Radloff (Judah Friedlander), and the veteran Mr. Boats (Earl Billings), with whom he shares hilarious interactions. Thanks to the success of his comic he also gets to meet his future third wife, Joyce Brabner (Hope Davis), and their depressing relationship also becomes an important part of his work. These interactions about the working class and Pekar's way of telling them are the heart of this biopic.In a way American Splendor's sense of humor reminds me a lot of Seinfeld, although Pekar's vision of life is far more depressing. The blending of documentary footage and narrative feature works thanks to Giamatti's spot on performance. Having the real Harvey Pekar and the actor portraying him in the same film could have been a disaster, but Giamatti captures his mannerisms so well that it works and takes this character study to a higher level. I also thought the secondary characters in this film were all very interesting. They were all so quirky and different, but their interactions with Harvey made for some funny material. One of the scenes that stood out for me was the scene where Harvey and Toby are criticizing The Revenge of the Nerds movie. American Splendor is a very innovative and odd film and one worth checking out despite lacking some better pacing at times. Still it stands out by combining fact with fiction in a very creative and funny way.

rooprect 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.

TheExpatriate700 American Splendor is an excellent film exploring the life of the late Harvey Pekar, the comic book writer who documented his working class life in a series of graphic novels. The film combines stylistic innovations with two excellent performances by Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis, both of whom give Oscar worthy performances.The most striking part of the film is its mimicking of the comic book format, through the use of on-screen divides between scenes, as well as animated depictions of Pekar's comic book. These give the film visual verve, while capturing Pekar's work in a way that a traditional biographical approach could not.Even more important are the excellent performances by Giamatti and Davis, which anchor the entire film. They embody their characters (and their real life counterparts) in such a way that they come alive for the viewer.Most importantly, the film captures the tedium and ugliness of working class life which was the heart of Pekar's graphic novels. Pekar's mundane existence as a file clerk lies at the center of the movie, ignoring the tendency to pretty things up in Hollywood films. Thus, this film belongs on every comic book lover's shelf, next to Crumb.