American Splendor (2003)

My Review

“American Splendor” is a comedy-drama movie about the life of comic book author Harvey Pekar (1939-2010). It features a combination of live actors, documentary-style format, and animation. Directors-screenwriters Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini have created a confusing and uninteresting film with a lack of focused direction and credible writing. It did well with critics and with art house cinema audiences, but went nowhere with the general public.

The cast is headed by Paul Giamatti as Pekar, Hope Davis, Judah Friedlander, James Urbaniak, Toby Radloff, Earl Billings, Maggie Moore, James McCaffrey, Madylin Sweeten, and Josh Hutcherson in his motion picture debut. Harvey Pekar made a cameo appearance as himself. The unwatchable art house cinema nonsense “American Splendor” was a flop at the box office for HBO Films, Good Machine Productions, and Fine Line Features. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.