American Splendor Review
by Richard A. Zwelling (razwee AT yahoo DOT com)October 2nd, 2003
AMERICAN SPLENDOR
*** (out of ****)
a film review by
Richard A. Zwelling
If I had to pick one word to describe the biopic of real-life comic book star Harvey Pekar, it would be "ultra-realistic". I say this despite the film's many ventures into hyperbolic narrative techniques indicative of comic books. This is the story of an overweight, hairy, balding, obsessive-compulsive file clerk living in a dumpy part of Cleveland...certainly not a dashing hero. His love interest, Joyce (Hope Davis) is a bony, mousy, sullen depressive who has numerous food allergies...certainly not a flattering leading lady.
Yet this is what makes American Splendor so successful and so charming. Harvey Pekar (Paul Giamatti) created the American Splendor comic series as a statement. Thrusting headfirst against typical escapist stories that told of dashing superheroes, passionate romance, idealistic lifestyles, Pekar strove for stories that were not necessarily pretty, did not have remarkably interesting characters, and avoided any hint of pretense and sentimentality. In short, the comic is about his own life.
The film uses this fact to the end of becoming an American Splendor comic in and of itself. In addition, just to add to the film's unflattering realism, the film includes interviews with the real people who are portrayed in the film, sometimes side-by-side with the actors portraying them. There are even cases when the actors are replaced by the real people mid-scene.
The result is both humorous and wonderful to watch, because the medium of film is used so effectively in conveying the essence of Harvey Pekar the man, but also Harvey Pekar the comic book "hero". Kudos to Shari Berman and Robert Pulcini (co-writers and directors) who create a gloomy yet charming comic/movie. Another charming facet of American Splendor is its tendency to repeatedly anticipate points in the film where one would normally expect an uplifting, optimistic, sometimes unrealistic moment. It then shamelessly scolds the audience for desiring such a moment instead of the "real thing". Such a moment occurs during the first date between Harvey and Joyce. From listening to the real Harvey Pekar, the tendency to lash out against anything less than full-blown realism certainly seems something in keeping with his character (pun very much intended).
The moment of the film that held the most interest for me was the footage of Pekar's appearance on the David Letterman show during the '80s. Pekar's vehement denunciations of American corporate life, and also his repeated suspicion of Letterman's own media fraudulency, create impressions that are both humorously revealing and undeniably unsettling within the context of the rest of the film.
Aside from Giamatti and Davis, all of the actors are chosen less for acting ability and more for their uncanny resemblances to the real people. This is not to say the acting is bad (exactly the opposite), but it is clear that the casting is done with the intention of highlighting Pekar's preoccupation with realistic presentation.
In the wake of all the comic superheroes that have emerged in multiplexes recently (Hulk, Daredevil, Spiderman, etc.), it is both disconcerting and refreshing to see something more down-to-earth. Make no mistake, this movie is about unattractive people with uninteresting lives, and for that, some may immediately shun the film. For people who will be fans, however, the inherent humor in the humdrum and monotony will be impossible to miss.
More on 'American Splendor'...
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