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American Splendor
(Reviewed July 24, 2003)
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The hosannas of praise that some critics are lavishing on "American Splendor" may be due to the fact that most of this year's other movies have been so remarkably lousy. Don't get me wrong, "American
Splendor" is okay, but it's no "Ghost World" and it definitely is no "Crumb." All three movies were about non-mainstream comics and/or their creators, but "American Splendor"--about the life and work of
underground comics writer Harvey Pekar--is the weakest of the trio.
The movie gets off to a bad start in its very first scene, featuring a group of trick-or-treaters that includes Harvey Pekar as a kid; it's short, but its self-consciousness will make you wince. Paul
Giamatti plays the adult Pekar, a sad-sack loser who had the good luck to be a friend of then up-and-coming comics genius Robert Crumb when Crumb was a fellow Cleveland resident. Crumb agrees to
illustrate Pekar's first everyday-events-are-boring-but-fascinating comic script, and the thing is an underground hit. Pekar goes on to script more installments of his anti-action strips in his comic-book
"American Splendor," illustrated by various artists, for the next three decades. The twist to the story is that instead of striking it filthy rich and going Hollywood, Pekar keeps on living in a house that is a bit
of a dump, and keeps his job as a file clerk at a Cleveland veterans hospital his entire working life. He shuttles back and forth to New York for appearances on "Late Night With David Letterman" while
looking like a sickly, wild-eyed bum.
One interesting device the movie uses is switching between Giamatti as Pekar and Pekar himself, sitting in a limbo stage commenting on events. Interestingly, although actual clips of some Pekar
appearances on Letterman's show are incorporated into the film, such is not the case with the appearance that got Pekar banned briefly from the show. (Pekar essentially wises up to the fact that Letterman is
laughing at him, not with him, and tells him off. Personally, I only wish more of Letterman's guests would do so; I can't stand that smug, unfunny, repetitive prick. But maybe that's just me...)
The main thing the movie has going against it is that Pekar is, well, not exactly charming. More to the point, he comes off as the kind of moping, bitter crank that you would go out of your way to avoid.
Crumb, in "Crumb," is an eccentric, opinionated misanthrope throwback who is so weird that he is compelling. Pekar is Crumb-lite: he's similarly cantankerous, he holds a similar disdain for modern
music, he has carved out a similar if smaller cult-hero niche among comics fans...but based on what we see in this movie, he also is unpleasant and boring and, it's gotta be said, downright dull.
"American Splendor" is an offbeat biography about a unique artist, but the main thing you'll be happy about when it's over is that you don't live in Cleveland.
Back Row Grade: B-
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