All Critics (182)
|
Top Critics (42)
|
Fresh (173)
|
Rotten (11)
|
DVD (26)
A glorious rebuke to all this summer's recycled, effects-ridden, laboriously "fun" Hollywood disappointments piled along the wayside like so many crashed cars.
We're constantly kept on our toes regarding issues of representation while Pekar's sour but indefatigible working-class skepticism carries us along.
It would be a mistake to regard American Splendor as an anthem for the common man. It is the uncommon that is being celebrated here.
If Harvey Pekar is a brilliant oddity so is the movie that tells his story.
Pulcini and Berman have inventively rethought the notion of the biopic, and the results are audacious.
The kind of movie that sticks with you for days, your admiration growing each time you remember it.
Channels Pekar's vision of art and life as twinned struggles. One of cinema's great first-date sequences is here. We're splendidly shown how a lower-class nine-to-fiver has his own creative selves and richly expressive life.
Earthy, gritty and real; for older kids.
Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's biopic about Harvey Pekar - who injected schadenfreude into the superhero-comics world - wonderfully etches one man's exploration of using misery as a creative outlet and, eventually, a critical coping mechanism.
The rare artist biopic that goes beyond the dull march of events and actually illuminates the creative process.
The film gives a charming, funny, and many times engrossing account of Pekar which will surely please fans and garner some new ones and I liked it a lot.
American Splendor is certainly one of the most complete, satisfying and entertaining hybrid of documentary and dramatisation, as well as of live action and 2D animation/comic stills.
Un film assez lent, mais au récit tout de même fort bien construit
A life affirming experience, perhaps even a life changing one.
The movie is as unclassifiable as the comic -- neither documentary nor biopic, or maybe both.
Mr. Giamatti and Ms. Davis seem to feed off each other, bringing out the best performances we've seen from these actors.
If you can get through the confusing goings-on of the first reel, then this is a satisfying experience -- funny, touching and tragic by turns. And Giamatti deserves every award going.
Hugely enjoyable and very clever portrait of Harvey Pekar.
The blend of styles results in an edgy, touching, original story about a working-class man who channels his gloom, grime and longing into comic art
I expected more from a movie that took home gold in Cannes and wowed 'em at Sundance.
Giamatti is excellent as Pekar and Hope Davis delivers another wonderful performance as Pekar's third wife Joyce.
American Splendor, despite being interesting and likeable, is a film that could be truly enjoyed only by the fans of Harvey Pekar's work
More Critic Reviews
Top Critic
