American Splendor (2003)

★ 7.2 1h 41m 532 votes IMDb
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American Splendor

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Cast

Paul Giamatti
Paul Giamatti as Harvey Pekar Age 59 · New Haven, Connecticut, USA Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti (/ˌdʒiːəˈmɑːti/JEE-ə-MAH-tee; born June 6, 1967) is an American actor. His accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award, three Golden Globes, and nominations for two Academy...
Hope Davis
Hope Davis as Joyce Brabner Age 62 · Englewood, New Jersey, USA Hope Davis (born March 23, 1964) is an American actress. She has starred in more than 20 feature films, including About Schmidt, Arlington Road, Flatliners, Mumford, American Splendor, The Lodger and...
Judah Friedlander
Judah Friedlander as Toby Radloff Age 57 · Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA Judah Friedlander (born March 16, 1969) is an American actor and comedian, known for his trademark trucker hats, oversized glasses and unkempt appearance, which he retains in many of his screen roles....
James Urbaniak
James Urbaniak as Robert Crumb Age 62 · Bayonne, New Jersey, USA James Christian Urbaniak (born September 17, 1963) is an American actor. Urbaniak was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. He lives in Santa Monica, California with his wife Julie and their twins, son Severn...
Earl Billings
Earl Billings as Mr. Boats Age 81 · Cleveland, Ohio, USA Earl William Billings (born July 4, 1945) is an American actor, best known as Rob in the television series What's Happening!!..
James McCaffrey
James McCaffrey as Fred Died 2023 · Albany, New York, USA James Perry McCaffrey (March 27, 1958 – December 17, 2023) was an American actor, best known for his voice role as Max Payne in the Max Payne video game series. Additionally, he had roles such as Jimm...

Audience Reviews

CinemaSerf 7/10 Jul 06, 2026
With his glass invariably half-empty, poor old Harvey (Paul Giammatti) discovers that he hasn't got throat cancer, but does have a nodule on his throat that will curtail his ability to speak for a few months. That proves to be quite a problem when he returns home to find his girlfriend is leaving him! Now on his own, he takes more solace in his mundane job as a clerk at an hospital where he engages with his colleagues about the price of jellybeans (and their suitability for abstinence during lent) whilst at home, he immerses himself in his books and his extensive collection of second hand jazz. It's at one of his favourite markets that he encounters the enigmatic "Crumb" (James Urbaniak) who designs the artwork for greetings cards. They remain friends throughout the forthcoming years as the latter man finds success with his own brand of comic book. That inspires Harvey to have a go at his own, more gritty, publication that draws it's inspiration from Jimmy Carter's America - and it doesn't pull it's punches. Whilst this publication isn't exactly a roaring success, it does get him onto the somewhat condescending chat show circuit and it also sees him hook up with "Joyce" (Hope Davis) whom he quickly discovers is a sort of soul mate and an equally powerful motivator for his succes - even if there is a fair degree of spatting going on between them! Running in parallel to this quite entertaining critique of his life is more of a documentary style of story that features the real Harvey Pekar whose contributions serve as almost an antidote to the eccentric characterisation from Giammatti whilst also authenticating it. He doesn't relive the same incidents from a different perspective, or anything like that. It's more like the film presents us with an anchor of the facts to remind us that what can appear as feintly ridiculous is in fact rooted in truth. In many ways this reminded me of something Woody Allen might have presented, especially as there's quite a reliance on the music and it is quite episodic in it's delivery as it quite successfully produces a work of faction that raises smiles and grimaces as his life meanders on erractically.

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