The American Splendor
The movie is somewhat episodic, but it’s a linear re-telling of Harvey Pekar’s life as depicted in American Splendor. It starts with him getting back into comics and transitions into meeting and marrying Joyce. The movie also covers his Late Show with David Letterman appearances. And ends on Pekar’s real-life retirement from work. In between, we see several episodes that were in various American Splendor comics.
The way the movie is done adds to the appeal. By mixing together the real Harvey Pekar, the movie version of Harvey Pekar and the comic version of Harvey Pekar, we get to see multiple sides of the person and helps us better view Paul Giamatti as Harvey Pekar. Since one of the fun parts of the American Splendor comic is seeing different artists’ interpretation of Harvey Pekar, the movie recreates this by mixing together the different views of Harvey Pekar. And Paul Giamatti is as good as ever in the title role. Hope Davis does a wonderful job bringing Joyce to the screen and showing us a complex woman who can not only live with Harvey Pekar, but get his respect and love as well. She shows us that Joyce isn’t just is wife, but his partner.
And the ending with Harvey’s retirement party brings together the real people and the actor’s playing them together for the party. It is a perfect ending to the movie and to Harvey’s career. Tying together the movie ending and Harvey’s career ending makes a perfect way to end the movie. And watching these actors and real people together for a celebration sums up the spirit of American Splendor. It’s all about the little victories we get in between the drudgery of real life. Highly Recommended