GRADE: A+

Curmudgeon, underground comic book author and file clerk Harvey Pekar was an American original, so it’s only fitting that this spectacular film about his life and works is equally original (and incredibly funny). But don’t take my word for it; just consider the fact that the film was named Best Picture by the American Film Institute, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, National Society of Film Critics and New York Film Critics Circle. Oh, and did I mention it also won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival?

Pekar, who died at age 70 in July 2010, was the creator of a highly lauded comic book series called American Splendor. That series of comic books and graphic novel length affairs focused on the everyday and mundane machinations of life in Cleveland, Ohio, where Pekar lived his entire life.

Pekar’s peculiar observations, dry wit and cynical humor became an instant hit after underground comic book legend Robert Crumb (a friend of Pekar’s) agreed to illustrate his highly original stories (Pekar had absolutely no talent for drawing).

In American Splendor, a superb debut effort from Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, who together wrote and directed the film, Pekar is played by Paul Giamatti, who turns in another outstanding seriocomic performance, matched nuance for nuance by Hope Davis as Pekar’s third wife, Joyce Brabner.

Using a variety of clever and creative cinematic techniques that are wonderful to watch and befitting the story combined with cutaways to the real Pekar and other characters from the film contribute to American Splendor being as far from a traditional biopic as you can get, and that’s a big part of what makes it so darn good.

Pekar’s is a story that’s easy to relate to—ironically, despite the success of his comic books and regular appearances on David Letterman, real financial rewards were few and far between. This isn’t the story of a “nobody” suddenly becoming a celebrity who falls into the fast lane. In fact, through it all, Pekar continued to work as a file clerk at the V.A. Hospital in Cleveland until he retired in 2002.

Details of what’s in-store for viewers of American Splendor would only serve to put the punch-line in front of the joke. Suffice it to say there’s nothing else quite like it; a masterfully conceived and executed celebration of the ordinary BS most of us endure each and every day—from picking the wrong line at the grocery store checkout to using a little glue to get one more winter out of that winter overcoat.

American Splendor separates the truth from the illusion in ways that are both knowing and hilarious, with an underlying sense of the serious on the crazy road of life.

Don’t miss this one!

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