American Splendor Review

by David N. Butterworth (dnb AT dca DOT net)
January 13th, 2004
AMERICAN SPLENDOR
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2004 David N. Butterworth

*** (out of ****)

    Breakthrough filmmakers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's "American
Splendor" chronicles the life and times of Harvey Pekar, a downbeat, dogged Everyman (played to downbeat, dogged perfection by Paul Giamatti) who teamed up with illustrator Robert Crumb ("Fritz the Cat") in the 1970s to create the "American Splendor" comic book, a self-reverential treatise that followed the curmudgeonly cartoonist's non-adventures and elevated him to the rank of near cult status. The splendor of "'Splendor" the movie is that it utilizes a variety
of cinematic techniques each of which complement the other favorably--comic strip boxes and balloons, reenactments, and (here's something new) scenes which
feature the real Harvey Pekar and his neurotic, activist wife Joyce Brabner (played in other parts of the film by Hope Davis in a black wig that puts Minnie
Driver's in "Love Liza" to shame) plus other weirdo nobodies like uber-nerd friend Toby Radloff (Judah Friedlander) actually interacting with the actors who play them. It sounds like an unworkable mix of disparate styles yet somehow
Berman and Pulcini, both new to this, piece everything together to produce an experience that works surprisingly well. "American Splendor" is part homage, all adoration, working in Pekar's short and ultimately self-destructive stint on Letterman ("you had a good thing going there" Dave tells him candidly behind
the scenes after their last appearance together) while, at the same time, working
out what made this real-life anti-hero tick. You could never accuse the filmmakers
of putting an upbeat spin on things, however--and some viewers might be turned off by the very tone of the piece, since Pekar, who worked as a file clerk at a hospital in Cleveland, Ohio for many years, mopes around as if he's been diagnosed
with prostrate cancer--but there's an inner energy and warmth here that's surprisingly
infectious.

--
David N. Butterworth
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