American Splendor

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American Splendor

R

2003

1h 40m

Biography

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

94%

Tomatometer

185 Reviews

86%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

Underground comic book writer Harvey Pekar, portrayed by Paul Giamatti but also appearing as himself, is the subject of this inventive biopic. Much of the film focuses on the eccentric Pekar's day-to-day life in Cleveland, particularly his relationship with his patient wife, Joyce Brabner (played by Hope Davis and also appearing as herself). As Pekar's musings are brought to the screen in this unique and engaging production, the movie playfully incorporates comic book-like panels.

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Critics Consensus

Exhilarating both stylistically and for its entertaining, moving portrayal of an everyman, American Splendor is a portrait of a true underground original.

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Amy Taubin

Film Comment Magazine

04/10/2018

What makes the film special throughout is the way its form mirrors its subject matter. On every level, it's a film about unlikely marriages.

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Anthony Lane

The New Yorker

04/12/2013

Mild fame may have patronized these folks, but the movie pays them a comic homage that feels flattering, fast-witted, and true.

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Joe Morgenstern

Wall Street Journal

04/12/2013

I can't imagine how the filmmakers went about it, let alone pulled the whole thing off, but their film comes together in unpredictable and remarkably pleasurable ways.

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Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

09/24/2023

... affects the gloom but sneaks up on you with the crooked smile of the pulp poet of working class life.

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Christine Champagne

Out Magazine

05/26/2022

The real Pekar (as well as an animated version of him), Brabner, and Radloff are incorporated into this cleverly constructed and visually inventive masterpiece that embraces and celebrates the outsider.

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Monica Reid

Far Out Magazine

08/27/2018

3.5/5

Played to perfection by Paul Giamatti, Pekar defies the categories of hero, villain, or even anti-hero. He simply exists, an ordinary man trying to make the best of a largely disappointing life.

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Circus E.

@COS.ENT85 Apr 10

10/10 spectacular, uplifting and motivating

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Anderson A

@Anderson47474 Feb 7

Filme que realmente merece indicação de Roteiro adaptado, mostra como o caos na vida é real e como se você não se adaptar acaba sucumbindo a isso, a diferença é que o autor do quadrinho tornou isso público e ganhou dinheiro e ao mesmo tempo exposição 8.0

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Tyler G

@tylergross121 07/06/2025

The presentation is creative and Pekar is a perfect role for Giamatti, but it was a little boring and structureless.

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Richard L

@KaneLives 10/29/2024

One of the more creative approaches to a biographical movie I've ever seen, and although it perfectly incorporates the real Pekar (and his TV appearances) into the film, as others have said there just wasn't really all that much to his life to make it interesting. Even so, the film's heart is in the right place and it certainly has its moments and some lingering feeling of both comfort and heaviness that most films can't even elicit in the first place.

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Miles M

@RT59411827 12/31/2023

Although illustrating some interesting points, and Giamatti's performance is solid, a good portion of the movie is a bore-nothing that I could take out of it other than that and the creative style of filmmaking. An unappealing depressive film with some very unlikeable characters.

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Aaron S

@RT79746728 11/18/2022

A VERY 2003 biographical comedy about comic book writer Harvey Pekar. It takes some interesting time hopping approaches to its narrative and has a unique comic visual flair to the whole thing, but it's all a little too humdrum for its own good. I sort of liked it, but I won't return to it.

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Shari Springer Berman

Director

Robert Pulcini

Director

Paul Giamatti

Harvey

Harvey Pekar

Self

Shari Springer Berman

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Synopsis

Underground comic book writer Harvey Pekar, portrayed by Paul Giamatti but also appearing as himself, is the subject of this inventive biopic. Much of the film focuses on the eccentric Pekar's day-to-day life in Cleveland, particularly his relationship with his patient wife, Joyce Brabner (played by Hope Davis and also appearing as herself). As Pekar's musings are brought to the screen in this unique and engaging production, the movie playfully incorporates comic book-like panels.

Director: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Producer: Ted Hope
Screenwriter: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Distributor: Fine Line Features
Production Co: HBO Films, Good Machine
Rating: R (Language)
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 15, 2003, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 21, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $6.0M
Runtime: 1h 40m
Sound Mix: Surround