Posted: 08/22/2003

American Splendor

(2003)

by Hank Yuloff

Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff. A pretty fitting description for this enjoyable and sure to be cult flick.

American Splendor is the story of Harvey Pekar (that’s pronounced PEE-Kar), a truly ordinary kind of guy who is making his way through life as a file clerk for the Veterans Administration. Talk about your middle of the bell curve for boring. The key here is that he’s sharper than your every day 9 to 5 kind guy. His mind is a swirl with thoughts, insights and frustrations that need a place to vent. The lucky part for Pekar is that he has made friends with Robert Crumb—a comic book illustrator who shares Pekar’s love of the medium. It’s lucky in that Pekar is able to write about all that means something to him in comic book form, instead of going through the trouble of writing a novel or screenplay or essay or something—comics are quick and to the point. He shows some of his stick figures with dialog to Crumb and a new Normal hero is born on the shelves of comic book stores.

American Splendor is filmed in a weird blend of documentary and dramatic story telling. We are given the voice over by the real Harvey Pekar and shown the story version of Pekar by Paul Giamatti (Private Parts, Big Fat Liar, The Truman Show). They intertwine constantly to the point where they really are interchangeable—like the comic book itself where Pekar’s visage takes on many looks as he is drawn by several people. The film borrows a lot from comic book style titles, headings, and transitions a la Chasing Amy. Giamatti is superb. It is difficult to portray someone that is on screen with you, but we instantly forgive whatever differences exist between real and created. The same can be said for Hope Davis (About Schmidt) who portrays Pekar’s third wife Joyce Brabner.

The story line reminds me of what was said of Seinfeld—it’s really not about anything except Pekar’s unusual life. We are given snippets of his thoughts and musings—like how many Harvey Pekars exist in Cleveland, Ohio—along with the highlights of his life: Getting divorced, meeting his 3rd wife, a fight with cancer, gaining a daughter… But in so much as it is not about anything, it really is about something—that all of our lives have usefulness. They all have an American Splendor to them. Think I’ll start writing mine.

Hank Yuloff is a writer living in The Valley area of Los Angeles who still watches Aerobicize on Dish TV.

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