American Splendor

[Chest Rockwell]

Just saw this tonight (on DVD), and I loved it! I actually really liked the real Harvey Pekar scenes, and how they incorporated him into the movie at spots, namely the David Letterman interview segments. Overall a very nice movie. Probably my second favorite Comedy of the year.

[modage]

Overall a very nice movie. Probably my second favorite Comedy of the year.

was it really that funny?  or just sundance indie funny?

[Chest Rockwell]

I suppose the latter. There weren't many moments when I laughed out loud, but I decided it's more of a comedy than anything else....assuming 'comic movie' isn't a genre.

[SoNowThen]

Overall a very nice movie. Probably my second favorite Comedy of the year.

was it really that funny?  or just sundance indie funny?

Funny kinda in the same way that Wes Anderson is funny.

[NEON MERCURY]

was it really that funny?  or just sundance indie funny?

here is the laugh o' meter=      with some of this  

the most "chuckle inducing" scene is da part when he looks in the mirror and the caption goes 'now theres a reliable dissapointment'.....                                                   isnn't that phucking funny                                      

and the pina colada jellybean sh*t  a "laugh riot"....or a knee slapper, or funnny.....

[Chest Rockwell]

Overall a very nice movie. Probably my second favorite Comedy of the year.

was it really that funny?  or just sundance indie funny?

Funny kinda in the same way that Wes Anderson is funny.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[MacGuffin]

Kind of disappointed. It certainly didn't live up to the overwhelming praise. It was a fine film, but nothing that blew me away or captured me. I don't think the film really fleshed out Pekar and Joyce. I never really found out much about Joyce, what really attracted her to Pekar and about their relationship overall (and she is hardly what I'd imagine budgie to be). Pekar's life experences just seemed to be all about the comic books, but not relaying much of his feelings. The battle with cancer, for example, just seemed passed over just to get to the resulting comic book and any hint of what he went through is shown in a brisk montage. The film seemed like a connect-the-dots kind of storyline, and just played out to compare to the comic book panels. It was like the art was initiating the life rather than other way 'round. The 'real-life' interludes with the real people seemed to stick out as 'Look, here are the real people. Now, compare them to our actors playing them and you can see we're not making this up.'

But there are some gem scenes that are worth mentioning. The phone book speech was very moving and Toby explaining Revenge Of The Nerds had me laughing.

[SHAFTR]

Harvey Pekar was here today (University of Wisconsin) for the Distinguished Lectured Series and I couldn't go.  I REALLY wanted to but I couldn't miss my Classical Film Theory Lecture (3 hrs long).

[meatball]

I'd agree that it was somewhat disappointing, though it had a lot of good moments. I just wish the whole movie was a good moment.

[Find Your Magali]

Did anyone pick up the CD soundtrack to American Splendor? What do you think of it?

[Gold Trumpet]

Dissapointing. It makes the same mistake that Memento made with its gloss tricks in that it didn't incorporate the tricks to make a better film, but a better looking film that still had the same film underneath. The first half hour of American Splendor seemed to revel in what it could do so cleanly so cheaply, incorporating the techniques for display only. To lose consistency, the film then dropped most of it and went to an average film, throwing the techniques back in every now and then. I was interested by the idea of a fictional film offsetting a documentary profile, but the level it seemed to examine that idea was having mainly a fictional film with a couple of interviews with the regular guy. Hardly the exploration. An enjoyable film, but I was more interested by Pekar himself and the odd ball characters around him.

[Ghostboy]

Did anyone pick up the CD soundtrack to American Splendor? What do you think of it?

I loved it, but for some reason it will only play in my computer and not my CD player, which is kinda annoying.

[SHAFTR]

I was interested by the idea of a fictional film offsetting a documentary profile, but the level it seemed to examine that idea was having mainly a fictional film with a couple of interviews with the regular guy. .

I have to defend this film since it might be my favorite of the year.  I think the movie was "a mainly fictional film with a couple of interviews" and I don't think it was trying to be anything else. If you are looking for a documentary first, and film second...I would suggest (from what I've heard) Eroll Morris's The Thin Blue Line.  With that said, I still think everything in this film is top notch.  Also, very emotionally.

[Gold Trumpet]

I was interested by the idea of a fictional film offsetting a documentary profile, but the level it seemed to examine that idea was having mainly a fictional film with a couple of interviews with the regular guy. .

I have to defend this film since it might be my favorite of the year.  I think the movie was "a mainly fictional film with a couple of interviews" and I don't think it was trying to be anything else. If you are looking for a documentary first, and film second...I would suggest (from what I've heard) Eroll Morris's The Thin Blue Line.  With that said, I still think everything in this film is top notch.  Also, very emotionally.

My criticism was for it being something it was not but the reason I did that is because I didn't see much value in what it was. Is there something to this film I am missing?

[SHAFTR]

I was interested by the idea of a fictional film offsetting a documentary profile, but the level it seemed to examine that idea was having mainly a fictional film with a couple of interviews with the regular guy. .

I have to defend this film since it might be my favorite of the year.  I think the movie was "a mainly fictional film with a couple of interviews" and I don't think it was trying to be anything else. If you are looking for a documentary first, and film second...I would suggest (from what I've heard) Eroll Morris's The Thin Blue Line.  With that said, I still think everything in this film is top notch.  Also, very emotionally.

My criticism was for it being something it was not but the reason I did that is because I didn't see much value in what it was. Is there something to this film I am missing?

I don't think there is.  It's a simple film, nothing complex.  Either you like it or you don't.  I doubt more viewings will change your mind.