SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Nonureva Really Surprised!

Ploydsge just watch it!

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

punishmentpark Paul Giamatti is once again phenomenal in the role of outsider Harvey Pekar. Though I knew only of Pekar through the some of the work of Robert Crumb and a TV-program about the Cannes film festival in which this film is promoted by the Pekars themselves, but he is an instantly sympathetic 'grouch' and his story is perfect for the screen, as Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini deftly prove.The art design for the film is obvious, but nonetheless brilliant and the tone of things is of course deliciously sarcastic and / or cynical, but also endearing and sentimental in the right way. The parts of real life television from the David Letterman Show, the parts of Toby and Crumb, the real Pekars appearing in their own framework and the atmospheric soundtrack are other delightful ingredients. Finally, I must mention Hope Davis, a great actress in many a movie; she is as crucial as Giamatti to the whole.One of my all time favorite movies; 10+ out of 10.

runamokprods 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.

hettin03 In American Splendor, the theme is on the character with a focus on the plot. The main character is Harvey Pekar. He works as a file clerk at the VA Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. His third wife, Joyce, is a minor main character. The real Harvey Pekar does voice overs and makes occasional appearances throughout the movie.This is a real life film about Harvey. The events of his life start at around age 10 when he is shown trick or treating with his friends. Everyone is in costume except Harvey. The person handing out candy at one house asks what character Harvey is dressed as. Well, Harvey is dressed as himself. This is character enough. The movie tells the story of how Harvey started his own comic book series. He decided to write comic sequences illustrating his everyday, mundane life. In an early scene, we see Harvey coming home after a doctor visit and finds his second wife packing up to leave him. At this point, things in Harvey's life start to really go down hill.After this, he finds himself dateless and lonely. And, it's no wonder. Harvey is so frumpy looking and walks around with his head down and shoulders bent as though he has a big chip on his shoulders.One day, Harvey is at a yard sale looking for that quarter priced bargain. He runs into a friend that introduces him to a well known comic book writer, Robert Crumb. Robert and Harvey become fast friends and start hanging out together, listening to music, with Harvey reading and Robert drawing characters for his comics.After a few scenes, Harvey is at the grocery store and is waiting in line to check out. He is held up by a lady who is arguing with the store manager over a price of one of her items. This is when Harvey gets his brilliant idea to write comics about his everyday life. Of course, the characters he draws are all stick figures. Because Harvey can't draw, he'll need to find someone to do this for him.We then see Harvey at home, working all night on this idea of his. Morning comes and it's time to go to work. He decides to take the material he has been working on with him so he can get the opinions of his coworkers. They all agree what Harvey has created is good. He then takes his work to his comic book friend, Robert, who also approves of Harvey's writing. Robert takes the material to have it published.Harvey then meets a girl, Joyce, a comic book enthusiast who works at a comic book store on the east coast. She can't find Harvey's latest issue so she decides to write him a letter to request a copy of his latest edition. Harvey calls her and they begin a telephone relationship. Joyce decides to visit Harvey. She moves in with him and they get married.Everything that portrays Harvey is depressing. The lighting and lack of color contribute to this depressed feeling that Harvey has. It's like a dark cloud follows him wherever he goes. In fact, Harvey is a very depressing person. It's written all over him. Everything is dull and drab. His clothes, apartment and even the areas of town he walks around in are colorless.Something else that contributes to Harvey's character is the repetitive idea of how things don't seem to go his way. He feels things should happen without any effort on his part. We see this idea repeated in several scenes where Harvey is walking around in a depressing part of town with his hands in his pockets and a scowl on his face. His apartment is depressing with junk, books and dirty dishes laying all around. And, we see Harvey always laying around, listening to music and reading. To me, these scenes convey how Harvey looks and feels about life, his life.His wife, Joyce, is depressing, too. She never smiles, nor does she show much expression. Even Joyce lays around in bed all day. So, we see this depressing pattern throughout the movie.Another movie I've seen that's based on the character is Citizen Kane. We watch how Charles Foster Kane, the main character, builds his newspaper empire. In American Splendor, we see how Harvey builds his comic book business. Although Harvey's business isn't what you would call an empire, it is something he has created. Both movies are built on the character's life.I like movies where the theme is about a person and their life. Especially, when it's a true story. It's very interesting to see the lives of others and watch how they grow into the person they are. Even though the title of this movie is the name of Harvey's comic book series, the comic book represents the main character and the writer, which is the theme of this movie.

cowman57-1 I seriously wanted to like this movie. It is an indie classic and it starred Paul Giamati, so it was supposed to be right up my alley. But American Splendor was not my cup of tea.The main character, Harvey Pekar (based on the real life guy, who made a few cameos throughout the film), was about the most vile and obnoxious protagonist in the history of protagonists, in my opinion. He was a whiny, disinterested, ungrateful slob who spent all of his time complaining about his life rather than trying to fix it. When in reality, he was actually a pretty lucky guy- he had a job, friends, a loving wife, fame, he survived cancer, people made a movie about his life etc.From a writing standpoint, this movie was slow. Pekar's character was, as has been mentioned, very passive (at least from his own perspective). Things happened to him instead of him making them happen. No wonder I didn't sympathize with him. It seems like the only thing he actually did for himself was start to write comics, but even then, it was only after he stumbled across a random person who happened to be a cartoonist.Another thing that annoyed me about American Splendor was the sort of artsy director thing of plugging cartoons into the frame. The technique may have been well received by critics who are more appreciative of that sort of thing, but I found it distracting. I think it reminded me of Hulk, which has made it to my worst-movies-of-all-times list.So I can understand why Pekar's comics earned their acclaim; I'll admit it. His readers took all of his depressed insights with a grain of salt and found them funny as opposed to annoying. They might even be able to identify with one or two of his thoughts. But put into the context of his life, every single one of these pessimistic ideas every single second of this guy's life was just too much for me to handle. His depression and whining is so constant and overbearing that it's beyond funny for me. I get that the title of his comics and of this movie is sarcastic, but I think our way of life in America deserves a little more credit that the way Pekar views it all.Thanks but no thanks on American Splendor. Sorry Giamati, not your best movie.