Director: Shari Springer Berman
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis
People's normal everyday lives are so fascinating you don't need to invent up fantastic stories. Harvey Pekar knew this & with the help from illustrator Robert Crumb started an underground comic called American Splendor. This film is a masterfully blended autobiography, documentary & drama/comedy that is brilliantly held together by the talented Paul Giamatti.
The true story of compulsive obsessive collector & comic book legend Havey Pekar from Clevelend Ohio. We follow his lonely but fascinating life from boring File Clerk, to his marriage to Joyce Brabner (Hope Davis) & those controversial appearances on David Letterman. A revealing biopic that skillfully uses real footage & cartoon graphics to enhance the narrative.
No matter how drab or pathetic you think this guys life looks, you end up rooting for him. A pessimistic son of a bitch, who didn't have anything creative to write about so wrote about his shitty life. Keeping it real man. Funny thing was it didn't turn out that bad after all. A great insight into the life of that other guy in the phone book with the same name as you - He died on the 12th July 2010 aged 70 - RIP Harvey... ROBDIDO