American Splendor 2003

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Codirectors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, who have three traditional documentaries on their resume, do a good job of keeping the various Harveys and Joyces from bumping into each other. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Reminds you that sometimes, simply getting out of bed each morning can be the most heroic of acts. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: It vibrates with creativity and hums with brilliant performances. Read more

Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune: Harvey gets under your skin, more so than just about any of this summer's supposed movie heroes. Read more

Elvis Mitchell, New York Times: Hilarious, moody and cantankerous. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: We're constantly kept on our toes regarding issues of representation while Pekar's sour but indefatigible working-class skepticism carries us along. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: 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. Read more

Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Thrillingly inventive, charming when it needs to be, prickly when it has to be and, like a potter's wheel, constantly in motion as it shapes celluloid into visual art. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: The rare artist biopic that goes beyond the dull march of events and actually illuminates the creative process. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: It's a beauty: wise, many-layered, and funny as hell. Read more

Manohla Dargis, Los Angeles Times: Giamatti looks nothing like Pekar either in person or in his various cartoon guises, but in a warmly sympathetic performance he brings the character to grubby, soulful life. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: The kind of movie that sticks with you for days, your admiration growing each time you remember it. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: It's an experience that's deeply human and profoundly moving. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: As touching as it is achingly, hilariously prickly. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Exhilarating and big-hearted. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: It's an inventive, mind-expanding exercise in heart and soul. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: The real magic of American Splendor lies in the sprightly transitions, the way it takes you from one level of reality and representation to the next without missing a beat. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Funny, clever, tender and wry, while always holding true to its ongoing identity crisis. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: A glorious rebuke to all this summer's recycled, effects-ridden, laboriously "fun" Hollywood disappointments piled along the wayside like so many crashed cars. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: 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. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Its arty style and note-perfect performances delight you. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: As inventive as Being John Malkovich, as psychologically quirky as Ghost World and as honest as the day is long. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: There's a tremendous amount of cultural vitality out there in the land of the losers; American Splendor is one of the first and best films to capitalize fully on this phenomenon. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: I wish more of the comic book-inspired movies were like this. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Magnificently audacious movie, in which fact and fiction sometimes coexist in the same frame. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: One of those rare, inventively made movies that isn't so taken with its own novelty it loses sight of its characters. Its warmth is for real, and it enwraps you. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It's a humane and witty treatment of an average life that, incidentally, speaks to the worth and inherent drama of average lives. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: Proof that ordinary guys can hold the comics, and the screen, as well as superheroes. This Halloween, I want to be Harvey Pekar. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The most amazing, colossal and fantastic comic-inspired movie in years. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The humour is dark but frequently funny. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: Hugely enjoyable and very clever portrait of Harvey Pekar. Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: The best movie about society's untrendiest since Ghost World exactly two years ago. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: It's a profound tribute to lives lived on the fringes of society -- to the introspective loners who are the most observant chroniclers of our times. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: A jazzy and humane synthesis of the comic books that Cleveland writer Harvey Pekar has for 25 years fashioned from the dross of his daily life. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: A marvelous, intelligent hybrid of documentary, comic book graphics and straight-ahead drama. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: In its ugly way, it shows the purest and most transcendental form of beauty, which is just life adapting and continuing. Read more