American Splendor (2003)

August 15, 2003 (US) • Comedy, Drama • 101m

Overview

An original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar.

Directors

Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini

Writers

Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini, Harvey Pekar, Joyce Brabner

Top Billed

Paul Giamatti

Keywords

comic book biography based on comic v.a. hospital junk sale jellybean greeting card file clerk garage sale comic book art neurotic comic book artist woman director wilmington delaware comic book writer cleveland, ohio

Where to watch

Free / Included

HBO Max Amazon Channel

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Top Billed Cast

Crew

Reviews

CinemaSerf

⭐ 7/10

July 6, 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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Status

Released

Original Language

Budget

$2,000,000

Revenue

$6,003,587

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