Breaking the fourth wall in an extraordinarily innovative way, American Splendor stars perennial second-banana Paul Giamatti (Man on the Moon, Big Fat Liar) as cantankerous file clerk Harvey Pekar--the antihero of his own autobiographical underground comic book for the last 20 years--and features the real Harvey Pekar as meta-narrator ("OK, here's me, or the guy playing me, even though he doesn't look anything like me...") and commentator in ironic interview segments that compliment the action. Peeling cartoon thought bubbles (and sometimes entire frames or folios) straight from the pages of American Splendor and incorporating them into the film, co-writers/directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (documentary makers up to now) brilliantly capture both the inner grumbling of charismatically prickly Pekar and his dark sense of self-parody. Blessed with uncommonly human-yet-cartoony performances (Hope Davis plays Pekar's loving but ever-aggravated wife Joyce), this inventive film is one-of-a-kind. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include en entertaining group commentary with the directors, Giamatti, and Pekar, as well as his wife Joyce, adopted daughter Danielle, and former co-worker Toby Radloff; the five-minute featurette “Road to Splendor,” following Pekar, Joyce, and Danielle to Sundance and Cannes premieres; an audio-only version of the song “American Splendor,” a few Easter egg interviews, weblinks, and a collector's comic book. Bottom line: a skimpy but fun extras package for one of 2003's best films.] (R. Blackwelder)
American Splendor
HBO, 101 min., R, VHS: $26.98, DVD: $27.98, Feb. 3 Volume 19, Issue 1
American Splendor
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