American Splendor R

Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff
American Splendor
96K ratings
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Format:  DVD
item number:  63XS6
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American Splendor for $19.20

DVD Details

  • Rated: R
  • Run Time: 1 hours, 41 minutes
  • Video: Color
  • Encoding: Region 1 (USA & Canada)
  • Released: February 3, 2004
  • Originally Released: 2003
  • Label: HBO Home Video

Performers, Cast and Crew:

Starring &
Performer: , , , , , , , &
Directed by &
Edited by
Screenwriting by &
Composition by
Produced by
Director of Photography:

Entertainment Reviews:

Certified Fresh94%

TOMATOMETER
Total Count: 186

Upright86%

AUDIENCE SCORE
User Ratings: 44,542
...Hilarious, moody and cantankerous....Enjoyable...
New York Times
Aug 15, 2003
...This soon-to-be minor classic is the best movie about society's untrendiest since GHOST WORLD...
USA Today
Aug 15, 2003
...[Pekar is] played with lyrical desperation by Paul Giamatti...
Los Angeles Times
Aug 15, 2003
...One of the best movies of the year, advancing the careers of Berman, Giamatti and Davis in the process...
Entertainment Weekly
Aug 22, 2003
Underneath all this schtick pulses a restrained, pensive take on how the terrific loneliness of the modern human condition can be ameliorated through its narration. Misery loves company, in other words, especially if it's comically described. Full Review
The Brooklyn Rail
Jun 18, 2012
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. Full Review
Wall Street Journal
Apr 12, 2013
A glorious rebuke to all this summer's recycled, effects-ridden, laboriously "fun" Hollywood disappointments piled along the wayside like so many crashed cars. Full Review
Newsweek
Aug 18, 2008

Product Description:

Harvey Pekar, the hilariously downtrodden Cleveland comic book artist, is the subject of AMERICAN SPLENDOR, titled after Pekar's autobiographical series. Played by actor Paul Giamatti, Pekar also appears as himself, giving the film a documentary feeling with many behind-the-scenes on-set shots. Directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini maintain this balance between the actors and the real-life characters--Pekar's wife Joyce and coworker Toby also appear on set as themselves--while crafting a funny, difficult, heartwarming tale that encapsulates Pekar's life, work, and uniquely bizarre perspectives.

Pekar is a pessimistic file clerk with no hope of ever rising above his boring job, slobbish apartment, and bad attitude. Wonderfully set in his ways, Pekar's constant self-deprication is clearly a front for his prolific interests in music and art. When his friend Robert Crumb (James Urbaniak) gets his big break as a comic book artist, Pekar decides to try his hand at the craft. Though he can't illustrate, his stories are good, and Crumb agrees to help draw the pictures. Soon several artists are illustrating Pekar's American Splendor series, and the comic book's readership grows. The film continues through the events of Pekar's life--meeting wife Joyce Brabner, appearing on David Letterman, struggling with cancer, and adopting a daughter--always showing Pekar's no-frills approach to life. A creative and punchy film, AMERICAN SPLENDOR invites viewers into the odd world of Pekar and his comic-book antihero persona.

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Product Info

  • Sales Rank: 29,428
  • UPC: 026359203121
  • Shipping Weight: 0.35/lbs (approx)
  • International Shipping: 1 item

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