By REVIEW BY DAN DUNN Special to the Daily Press
The movie “American Splendor,” based on the cult-classic comic book series of the same name, takes us inside the very real life of a curmudgeonly workaday anti-hero from Cleveland named Harvey Pekar. Harvey makes a meager living as a file clerk at a VA hospital. He makes the people around him miserable most of the time. And, despite his mild celebrity (or perhaps because of it), he makes a serious effort to maintain an existence rooted in a state of perpetual discontent.
Oh yeah, and his story makes for a great movie. It’s funny and sad and disheveled and, most of all, it’s us. At least, it’s those of us who are living paycheck to paycheck in the Real World under partly sunny skies.
Directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini take lots of chances here, and almost every one yields positive results. They intersperse animated characters with actors and their real-life counterparts, and often interrupt the narrative with testimonials from the eccentric Harvey and his equally oddball pals. But the biggest risk ventured — and the one that pays off most handsomely — was in casting perennial wingman Paul Giamatti as Pekar. In his first go as a leading man, Giamatti just flat-out nails it, imbuing the prickly and obsessive Harvey with a likeability that isn’t readily apparent in the original article. You can write him in next to Johnny Depp on the short list of great male lead performances of the year thusfar.
Giamatti’s work benefits greatly from the presence of a stellar supporting cast. Though nearly unrecognizable, Hope Davis is captivating as Harvey’s long-suffering wife, Joyce. And as avowed geek and Pekar co-worker, Toby Radloff (who some of you may remember from his “Nerd Spring Break” spots on MTV a few years back), Judah Friedlander delivers a performance that will undoubtedly garner him a few supporting actor nods when award season rolls around. (Rated R for language. Running time: 100 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 22, 2003. Read the original PDF.