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AMERICAN SPLENDOR
by Peter Sobczynski

August 22, 2003

1/2 (out of 4 stars)

FILM CREDITS: Starring Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis, James Urbaniak and Judah Friedlander. Directed and written by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. Produced by Ted Hope. A Fine Line release. Biopic. Rated R. Running time: 100 min.

While you may not necessarily know who Harvey Pekar is, you know someone like him in your own life (and if you don’t, it may be because you are that person yourself). He is the type of person who always positions himself as an outsider-not out of some attempt at hipster cool but out of a genuine confusion and perplexity towards both the weirdness of ordinary life and the willingness of most people to accept such weirdness in order to maintain a day-to-day existence-and is ready to go into a rant on anything that irritates him (including himself) at a moments notice. What separates him from other would-be curmudgeons is that he has a flair for transforming his aggressions and angst into art-most notably in his ongoing autobiographical comic book series "American Splendor"-with both wit and a keen observational eye for the world around him. (Thank God for that because if you take away those gifts, all you have left is a downscale version of Andy Rooney.)

Although it would seem like a comic book chronicling the (non)adventures of a twice-divorced file clerk in a Cleveland V.A. hospital would be the last thing that people who want to bring to the big screen, people have been trying to film "American Splendor" as far back as 1980-Jonathan Demme attempted a version long before the success of "Silence of the Lambs" made him bankable and a adaptation was discussed a few years ago as a Rob Schneider vehicle. However, filmmakers Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini, best known for their acclaimed documentary "Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen’s", managed to figure out a cinematic equivalent to Pekar’s unique style and the result that may not sound like much on the surface ("Ordinary shmoe struggling to deal with everyday life" is not exactly a description that will inspire the uninitiated to rush to the multiplex) but it turns out to be one of the most emotionally satisfying, thematically complex and flat-out entertaining films to come out so far this year.

Part of the problem with adapting "American Splendor", as I indicated, is that if you take away Pekar’s specific words and voice (which most of the previous attempts must have done), there really isn’t much of a story to tell. In this film, Pekar’s story is broken up into three roughly equal sections. The first third shows how an embittered Pekar was inspired by the revolutionary work of friend (and fellow record collector) R. Crumb to try his own hand at an alternative comic book. The second section follows his whirlwind courtship and marriage to Delaware comic dealer Joyce Brabner and their confused reaction to the minor-level fame that the comic has brought. ("American Splendor" is popular enough to be adapted into a play and land Pekar a string of recurring, increasingly testy appearances on "Late Night with David Letterman", but not popular enough to allow him to leave the filing job-he finally retired from that gig in 2001.) The finale deals with the discovery that Harvey has developed lymphoma and the decision to chronicle his treatment and recovery in a comic entitled "My Cancer Year". Without the voice of Pekar (and if you have ever heard Pekar speak before, it is impossible to read his words without hearing that voice in your head), much of the impact would be lost.

The solution that Berman & Pulcini cooked up to overcome that problem is so simple and obvious that it is no wonder that it eluded people for so long-they have included Pekar and his voice in the proceedings. The film veers back-and-forth between being an adaptation of the comic and Pekar’s life, with Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis playing Harvey and Joyce, and being a documentary featuring the real-life Harvey and Joyce appearing to comment on both their lives and the film itself. There are even moments when real life and "reel" life collide-there is an especially fascinating moment when the real Harvey and co-worker Toby Radloff are seen talking at a craft-service table while Giamatti and Judah Friedlander (who is playing Toby) look on in the background. (The film even throws in some animated sequences as well.)

This is not as off-putting as it sounds and, rather than serving as a distancing technique (as it did when Luis Bunuel tried a similar trick in "That Obscure Object of Desire"), having several different people play the same person actually brings "American Splendor" closer to its original source. Although Pekar is a gifted writer, he isn’t much of a cartoonist and so he has different people (including Crumb and Drew Friedman) handle the illustration duties for his books-in other words, the look of Harvey is always changing but the voice remains the same. There is a lovely moment where Joyce is waiting in a bus station, waiting to meet Harvey-whom she has never seen before-for the first time and she imagines that all of the men that she sees in the station could be him based on the various incarnations that she has seen in the books.

The problem with combining real people with the actors portraying them is that once we see the real people, the actors, no matter how good, wind up look inauthentic by comparison. (Remember how the memory of Angela Bassett’s otherwise astonishing performance as Tina Turner in "What’s Love Got to Do With It?" was spoiled when they tacked on footage of the real Turner at the end?) Here, however, the presence of the real Harvey and Joyce serve to demonstrate how astonishing the performances of Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis really are. Giamatti has been stealing scenes in movies for years (he has popped up in such varied films as "Planet of the Apes", "Storytelling", "Duets" and "Saving Private Ryan" and is probably best known as the apoplectic radio executive in "Private Parts") and here, with his first full-on lead role, he embodies the look, manner and, most importantly, the voice of Harvey Pekar so thoroughly that it is a little scary to behold. He is more than matched by Davis’s work-watching her performance here on the heels of her turn in "The Secret Lives of Dentists" will prove without a doubt that she is one of the most gifted and intriguing American actresses working today. Even at its most dour (and how else would you describe a screen courtship that kicks off when the woman becomes ill over the smell of the guy’s apartment), Giamatti and Davis develop an on-screen relationship that puts most other screen couples to shame.

"American Splendor" isn’t perfect-there are some surprising late-inning developments involving the young daughter of a fellow artist that feel rushed through-but in a weird way, the rough edges actually work in the film’s favor. Life is messy and complex and things don’t always work out as neatly as one might hope but usually they do work out. The makers of "American Splendor" understand this and they have created a film so compelling and strange and funny (I love the moment when Harvey gets his first fan letter from Joyce and wistfully remarks "She has good-looking handwriting.") that even a legendary grouch like Harvey Pekar himself would be won over by it.

-- PETER SOBCZYNSKI

Copyright © 2003 Peter Sobczynski
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While the views expressed by Peter Sobczynski do not necessarily reflect the views of Criticdoctor.com, the Critic Doctor will occasionally examine Mr. Sobczynski's film reviews to bring forth an honest examination of those views expressed.