Toby the nerd is my hero (American Splendor (DVD))

Member Name: cswann

Product:	American Splendor (DVD)
Date:	25/02/04 (98 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great characters, Even better that they are real-life characters, Innovative presentation

Disadvantages: Storyline can feel a bit mundane

?American Splendor? has already won a host of awards:

Fipresci award (Cannes Film Festival 2003)
Grand jury Prize (Sundance Film Festival 2003)
Guardian new directors award (Edinburgh Festival 2003)
It also has an Academy Award nomination for best adapted screenplay.

It is such a surprise to see a refreshingly different movie ? one which blurs all the boundaries between fiction, biography, documentary, comedy, tragicomedy? where do you want me to stop?

Crucial to the whole thing is Paul Giamatti, who plays Harvey Pekar. For those of you who haven?t heard of him, he is the creator of a cult American comic (or should I say, graphic novel) called ?American Splendor?. Which is where the title comes from.
He is a filing clerk at the local hospital, stuck in a boring job, but when it comes down to it, content to stay in his boring job, because it pays the bills, and allows him to concentrate on producing his comic.
He also loves to play and collect jazz records - his house is an utter mess.

We also get to see the real Harvey Pekar in brief commentary pieces, and he also narrates the entire movie. This is where we get to see that truth can often be stranger than fiction. Giamatti plays the character with a wonderful eccentric style (though ?style? is probably the wrong word ? Harvey is not a snappy dresser; he?s no looker either. He's definiteley a pessimist in outlook.
In fact, I came away from seeing the movie with the idea that he would be the ideal actor to bring Homer Simpson to life!
But that?s the kind of movie that ?American Splendour? is ? like The Simpsons it has a certain realism, and a charm, about it ? you really feel for the characters and get to know them.

The really clever thing about the two characters ? Pekar himself and Giamatti playing Pekar, is we get to hear comments about ?that guy who is playing me? ? all very true to life ? very probably the kind of thing that everyone w
ho?s ever had a film made about their life will have muttered when they have to suffer the end result.

His wife, Joyce, is played by Hope Davis ? another excellent piece of casting. She looks like Muriel Gray with a long black wig on, very laconic and another strange individual.
The story is faithful the Pekar?s real life (as are the comic books).
Robert Crumb becomes a mentor and illustrator of his stories.
There is a sequence where we see a real appearance on the David Letterman Show ? with an odd mixture of archive footage and newly acted material.

In some ways the story is rather mundane ? definitely if I wrote down a lot of what happens it would sound tedious (like many people?s lives consist of tedious events)
But then there are also characters such as the self-confessed nerd, Toby Radloff (played by Judah Friedlander). He?s the kind of guy who is proud to call himself a nerd, and usually, there?s even a chance that such a standpoint could make you, well, less of a nerd, and even quite trendy, but when we see the real Toby we realise he truly is a? nerd. Talks strangely, seems to have no sense of embarassment about either his appearance or his interests. Probably a really nice guy, too.
Any way, Toby's Harvey's best friend and Harvey makes no bones about spending the time of day with him

The movie is directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini

If you saw Ghost world and liked it ? this will float your boat. But if you also like weird indie movies, you?ll be happy. And if you like a tender tragi-comic love story ? it may also be worth checking out ? but don?t expect any sentimental stuff.

All I can say is, I'm not a comic book fan, and I enjoyed "American Splendor" very much, and it's even made me want to look at the books.

It's 101 minutes long, which I'd say is about the right length.

The website, with its comic book style write-up
s and snippets is worth a look:
Americansplendormovie.com

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