American Splendor DVD > Reviews > American Splendor

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Not applicable

Advantages:	Utterly original, hilarious, touching, fantastic performances .
Disadvantages:	May seem a little confusing for some .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Where do I begin on a review of a film like this? Do I look at it as a comedy drama? A biography? A documentary? The truth is that it needs to be looked at from all of these angles, as the film manages to successfully work all of these genres into one magnificently original film.

Harvey Pekar (Paul Giamatti) is a very cranky, very average man who works as a filing clerk in a hospital and leads a very uninteresting life. Inspired by his friend Robert Crumb (James Urbaniak), he begins to write a comic book, 'American Splendor', on the mundanities of life because as he says, "ordinary life is pretty complex stuff". We follow Harvey through his life, including his marriage to wife Joyce (Hope Davis), his breakdown on national television, through to his battle with cancer. Now all of this would have been more than enough to fill a film, but directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini have to take the concept even further. The voiceover for the film is provided by Harvey Pekar, not Paul Giamatti, but the real Harvey Pekar. Intercut amongst all of this are documenatry style interviews with the real Harvey Pekar, Joyce and their friend Toby. Oh, and small animations made from frames in the comic book are also thrown into the mix.

After all of that, American Splendor may appear to be rather overwealming for the average viewer. It's a testament to the skills of the directors (in their first film no less) that this is rarely the case. It's only the early parts of the film that may seem slightly difficult, and this is not down to confusion directly, but more that the film does nothing that one would expect, making it somewhat disorientating. This is in no way a bad thing, and should be welcomed as one of the true recent entirely original films. The only films that even compares to this on even the most basic level are Ghost World and Crumb, both of which are neatly tied to American Splendor in a roundabout way. Ghost World was also adapted from a small comic book about everyday life and was directed by Terry Zwigoff. Zwigoff himself directed the documentary on the life of Robert Crumb, who appears as a character in American Splendor. Pekar on his voiceover even makes a point of referencing the former film by proclaiming "he had a film made about him too". It would be unfair to compare the two films, as one is a full documentary and this is a crossing of multiple genres, but they still manage to successfully go together.

What makes American Splendor so fascinating is the character of Harvey Pekar himself, and the casting of Paul Giamatti in the role is a masterstroke. This is despite a slightly tongue in cheek comment from the real Pekar on the voiceover, complaining that Giamatti "doesn't even look like me". Giamatti is an excellent actor though, and it's a shame that it has taken this long for him to get a leading role. He deserves to be recognised a lot more than he is, and American Splendor is a one man tour de force for the actor. The rest of the cast more than adequately support him though. Hope Davis is a revealation as Joyce, playing a character so completely different than anything she has done previous, and like Giamatti, leaves one wondering exactly why she isn't more highly regarded. Judah Friedlander as Toby, Harvey's nerdy friend, appears to be an over the top character until the real Toby is seen later on in one of the documentary segments, and it can be seen how perfectly he nailed the role.

Harvey's life is a particularly fascinating one, and thus it's easy to see why even the most normal of people can lead just as interesting lives as those we percieve to have it so much better. Despite becoming a minor celebrity via his writing of American Splendor and his regular appearances on the Letterman show (some of these are in the film from archived footage, others are recreated by actors), he never gave up his job as a filing clerk. He seems to be the last person to fit the bill of a celebrity, and this comes over in Giamatti's performances. We never stop believeing, no matter how odd Harvey's life becomes, that he is just a normal guy. His relationship with Joyce is a strange part of this. What they share is hardly passionate love, but they obviously care for each other deeply even after what both of them have been through in their lives. This makes the documentary segments with them at various points during the film to be amongst the most interesting.

Overall, American Splendor is an excellent film for those not afraid of being confronted head on with a work that is entirely original. You won't find cliches, genre conventions or anything you may expect here, just something that is constantly surprising, frequently hilarious and at times deeply touching. It's also one of the best comic book adapatations in years, largely because, as the poster promises us "at last a comic book hero everyone can relate to". How right that phrase is. Forget Superman or Batman, give me Harvey Pekar any day.