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American Splendor

Play trailer Poster for American Splendor R 2003 1h 40m Biography Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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94% Tomatometer 185 Reviews 86% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings
Underground comic book writer Harvey Pekar, portrayed by Paul Giamatti but also appearing as himself, is the subject of this inventive biopic. Much of the film focuses on the eccentric Pekar's day-to-day life in Cleveland, particularly his relationship with his patient wife, Joyce Brabner (played by Hope Davis and also appearing as herself). As Pekar's musings are brought to the screen in this unique and engaging production, the movie playfully incorporates comic book-like panels.
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American Splendor

American Splendor

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Critics Consensus

Exhilarating both stylistically and for its entertaining, moving portrayal of an everyman, American Splendor is a portrait of a true underground original.

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Critics Reviews

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Amy Taubin Film Comment Magazine 04/10/2018
What makes the film special throughout is the way its form mirrors its subject matter. On every level, it's a film about unlikely marriages. Go to Full Review
Anthony Lane The New Yorker 04/12/2013
Mild fame may have patronized these folks, but the movie pays them a comic homage that feels flattering, fast-witted, and true. Go to Full Review
Joe Morgenstern Wall Street Journal 04/12/2013
I can't imagine how the filmmakers went about it, let alone pulled the whole thing off, but their film comes together in unpredictable and remarkably pleasurable ways. Go to Full Review
Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand 09/24/2023
... affects the gloom but sneaks up on you with the crooked smile of the pulp poet of working class life. Go to Full Review
Christine Champagne Out Magazine 05/26/2022
The real Pekar (as well as an animated version of him), Brabner, and Radloff are incorporated into this cleverly constructed and visually inventive masterpiece that embraces and celebrates the outsider. Go to Full Review
Monica Reid Far Out Magazine 08/27/2018
3.5/5
Played to perfection by Paul Giamatti, Pekar defies the categories of hero, villain, or even anti-hero. He simply exists, an ordinary man trying to make the best of a largely disappointing life. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Tyler G @tylergross121 Jul 6 The presentation is creative and Pekar is a perfect role for Giamatti, but it was a little boring and structureless. See more Richard L @KaneLives 10/29/2024 One of the more creative approaches to a biographical movie I've ever seen, and although it perfectly incorporates the real Pekar (and his TV appearances) into the film, as others have said there just wasn't really all that much to his life to make it interesting. Even so, the film's heart is in the right place and it certainly has its moments and some lingering feeling of both comfort and heaviness that most films can't even elicit in the first place. See more Miles M 12/31/2023 Although illustrating some interesting points, and Giamatti's performance is solid, a good portion of the movie is a bore-nothing that I could take out of it other than that and the creative style of filmmaking. An unappealing depressive film with some very unlikeable characters. See more Aaron S 11/18/2022 A VERY 2003 biographical comedy about comic book writer Harvey Pekar. It takes some interesting time hopping approaches to its narrative and has a unique comic visual flair to the whole thing, but it's all a little too humdrum for its own good. I sort of liked it, but I won't return to it. See more Greg H 08/03/2022 Please seek out these books. Pekar was such a hidden genius and the movie went above and beyond to focus on that, but you can't get a more real sense of the man unless you read his work. See more 07/25/2022 Certain stories are obviously age restricted, but what about considering age group via empathetic relatability as in already passed the depicted checkpoint in life? Will the sense of humor be shared fully? Not an original screenplay but rather an adaptation of graphic novels below the radar that can only rely on this film as their immortality to bring up their creative existence. In the meanwhile, the film currently garners attention mostly of the cast, tied secondarily between solely story and source material. It grimaces similarly in the veins to Terry Zwigoff's works when conversing slice of life realistic truism in satire commentary that plainly amuses whilst amid in a pitiful state, representing rock bottom's creative loss before the eventual surprisingly embraced acceptance. Paul Giamatti perfectly embodies the sort of everyman that defines the actual author with mirroring contexts throughout the comedic docudrama, and same goes for Hope Davis on charismatically bringing the heartened meaning of completeness with the most generated humor that's honestly not adjacently pathetic. Their separative chemistry buildup goes over daily struggles till their threads ties convincingly at questionably sudden engagement before realizing connective wholesome growth towards the theming behind the comics' subtexts. Pitiful nature of eased sympathy applied worrisomely by honesty, but the overall performative deliverance deserves its given fair rating, albeit viewed not of age yet besides grasping ahead. (B+) See more Read all reviews
American Splendor

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Movie Info

Synopsis Underground comic book writer Harvey Pekar, portrayed by Paul Giamatti but also appearing as himself, is the subject of this inventive biopic. Much of the film focuses on the eccentric Pekar's day-to-day life in Cleveland, particularly his relationship with his patient wife, Joyce Brabner (played by Hope Davis and also appearing as herself). As Pekar's musings are brought to the screen in this unique and engaging production, the movie playfully incorporates comic book-like panels.
Director
Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Producer
Ted Hope
Screenwriter
Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Distributor
Fine Line Features
Production Co
HBO Films, Good Machine
Rating
R (Language)
Genre
Biography, Comedy, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 15, 2003, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 21, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$6.0M
Runtime
1h 40m
Sound Mix
Surround
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