The greatest movie ever!

Excellent, smart action film.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Within the first 5 minutes, I dreaded watching 97 more about such a miserable human being. I found Pekar to be self-destructive, pessimistic, and generally rude toward others. I could not identify with him at all. I also thought that Giamatti and Judah Friedlander were over-acting. However, about half an hour later, I had begun to change my mind about some things. While Pekar was definitely self- destructive and pessimistic, he was also often kind toward his loved ones and co-workers...unfortunately, his self-loathing would often manifest in tantrums, during which he could be disrespectful, verbally abusive, and childish toward those same people. Moreover, the creative, meta style of this film was interesting and enjoyable, and revealed that Giamatti and Friedlander definitely did not over-act...instead, they nailed the strange mannerisms of two truly peculiar individuals (as did Hope Davis). It was fascinating to watch Pekar create unique and creative comic books, despite his inability to "draw a straight line." I also loved the David Letterman scenes. Finally, I was horrified to learn that I actually had a lot more in common with Pekar than I thought: escaping the frustrations of my "regular" job with a creative project; a failed marriage; cats; a weird-beyond-his-disability friend at work; debilitating, undiagnosed OCD; and the outward manifestation of humor to mask inner turmoil...like the proverbial sad clown. Fortunately, I am an optimist, athletic, and not socially awkward like Pekar, but this movie was a pointed reminder of how bad things could have gotten if I had let depression consume me when I was at my worst, not that long ago.More reviews and a kick-ass podcast at www.livemancave.com

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.

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.

Within American comic books there are two types of comic books, the mainstream which includes famous superheroes like Batman, Spider-man, Superman, etc… which aim to appeal the wider audience possible, and then there are underground comics like Ghostworld and American Splendor, which are aimed at a smaller adult audience and tackle more grounded issues. This can also be seen in American cinema, with Hollywood films which too also aim for a wide audience, whilst indie cinema is more adventurous. With American Splendor, underground comics and American Indie cinema are combined.American Splendor is based on the comic book series by Harvey Peker which is a an autobiographical account of Harvey Peker's (Paul Giamatti/Harvey Peker) regular life. Harvey is a regular man living in Cleveland which most American would descript as an industrial hole. Harvey is a middle aged man who has two failed marriages under his belt and works a dead-end job as a file clerk in a hospital. He is a bright man with a typical American left-wing attitude against big business and mainstream culture. He decides to become a comic book writer, writing about his own personal life. He quickly becomes a hit writer and gain critical recognition: but he continues to work his clerk job. His life takes a turn when one of his fans, Joyce Brabner (Hope Davies) sends him fan-mail and the two meet his home city. They quickly fall for each other and marry each other. But their marriage is fall of struggle whilst Harvey's fame rises, and Joyce goes through a rut. The two also have to go through one of the worst experiences imaginable, when Harvey discovers he has cancer and Harvey and Joyce write a graphic novel to overcome the experience.This is a fine example of indie cinema at it quirkiest. This is a comic bio-pic, made by people who obviously who are fans of the series. The directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini do not want to tell a conventional film: telling the story of one man's adult live, about original live, and the creative process. For the most part they keep a fun energy going throughout the film, and their experience as documentary film-makers show, particularly when their interview Harvey Peker. They are moments of style like when the cartoon versions of Harvey are shown, keeps a quirky, feel to the film. The character of Cleveland and it's industrial scene is present throughout the film, and it influence the hero.A mate of my joked that Paul Giamatti on the DVD cover looked like an older version of another friend. Character wise they weren't much different. Giamatti and Davies are convicting in the main roles, are two intelligence, ordinary people who become writers. But Peker at times can be a bit annoying with his pessimistic outlook and his counter-culture viewpoint to the extreme.However this is a funny film, a good example of American Indie cinema.