Clerks (1994)
89%RT Audience Score: 89%
Awards & Nominations: 6 wins & 11 nominations
Exhilarating both stylistically and for its entertaining, moving portrayal of an everyman, American Splendor is a portrait of a true underground original.
American Splendor is a film that celebrates the ordinary and the mundane, and it does so in a way that is both hilarious and heartwarming. The film’s unique form perfectly mirrors its subject matter, and the result is a movie that feels like a comic book come to life. Paul Giamatti’s portrayal of Harvey Pekar is nothing short of brilliant, and the film’s exploration of the creative process is both insightful and entertaining. If you’re looking for a movie that’s a little bit off the beaten path, American Splendor is definitely worth checking out.
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
Fine Line Features
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Quick Stop Groceries – 58 Leonard Avenue, Leonardo, New Jersey, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R on appeal for extensive use of extremely explicit sex-related dialogue
Year of Release
1994
-
Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Dolby
-
Aspect ratio:NA
-
Runtime:1h 40m
-
Language(s):English
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Aug 15, 2003 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): May 6, 2008
Genre(s)
Biography
Keyword(s)
starring Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis, Earl Billings, James Urbaniak, Judah Friedlander, directed by Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini, written by Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini, biography, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Amy Taubin, Anthony Lane, Joe Morgenstern, Nell Minow, Scott Tobias, David Ansen, Christine Champagne, Monica Reid, Glenn Dunks, Lisa Rosman, Brian Gibson, Nick Rogers, R-rated, Fine Line Features, Ted Hope, Harvey Pekar, Joyce Brabner, Robert Crumb, Toby Radloff, Mr Boats, Surround, American Splendor, underground comic book writer, inventive biopic, eccentric, day-to-day life, Cleveland, patient wife, musings, unique, engaging production, comic book-like panels
Worldwide gross: $3,151,130
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $6,375,131
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,102
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 695,216
US/Canada gross: $3,151,130
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $6,375,131
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,740
US/Canada opening weekend: $31,665
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $64,062
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,116
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $27,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $54,624
Production budget ranking: 2,149
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $29,415
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $6,291,091
ROI to date (est.): 7,486%
ROI ranking: 11
Harvey Pekar – Self
Shari Springer Berman – Interviewer Voice
Earl Billings – Mr. Boats
James Urbaniak – Robert Crumb
Judah Friedlander – Toby Radloff
Director(s)
Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Writer(s)
Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Producer(s)
Ted Hope
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
6 wins & 11 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (187) | Top Critics (56) | Fresh (175) | Rotten (12)
What makes the film special throughout is the way its form mirrors its subject matter. On every level, it’s a film about unlikely marriages.
April 10, 2018
Amy Taubin
Film Comment Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Mild fame may have patronized these folks, but the movie pays them a comic homage that feels flattering, fast-witted, and true.
April 12, 2013
Anthony Lane
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
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.
April 12, 2013
Joe Morgenstern
Wall Street Journal
TOP CRITIC
Earthy, gritty and real; for older kids.
December 21, 2010 | Rating: 5/5
Nell Minow
Common Sense Media
TOP CRITIC
The rare artist biopic that goes beyond the dull march of events and actually illuminates the creative process.
July 14, 2010
Scott Tobias
AV Club
TOP CRITIC
A glorious rebuke to all this summer’s recycled, effects-ridden, laboriously “fun” Hollywood disappointments piled along the wayside like so many crashed cars.
August 18, 2008
David Ansen
Newsweek
TOP CRITIC
The real Pekar (as well as an animated version of him), Brabner, and Radloff are incorporated into this cleverly constructed and visually inventive masterpiece that embraces and celebrates the outsider.
May 26, 2022
Christine Champagne
Out Magazine
Played to perfection by Paul Giamatti, Pekar defies the categories of hero, villain, or even anti-hero. He simply exists, an ordinary man trying to make the best of a largely disappointing life.
August 27, 2018 | Rating: 3.5/5
Monica Reid
Far Out Magazine
Like Ghost World before it, Pulcini and Berman have taken an unconventional comic and given it a cinematic make-over.
June 4, 2014 | Rating: A-
Glenn Dunks
Quickflix
Underneath all this schtick pulses a restrained, pensive take on how the terrific loneliness of the modern human condition can be ameliorated through its narration. Misery loves company, in other words, especially if it’s comically described.
June 18, 2012
Lisa Rosman
The Brooklyn Rail
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.
May 10, 2012
Brian Gibson
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Alberta)
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.
September 25, 2010 | Rating: 4/4
Nick Rogers
The Film Yap…
Plot
Dante Hicks is not having a good day. He clerks in a small convenience store and is told to come into work on his day off. Dante thinks life is a series of down endings and this day proves to be no different. He reads in the newspaper that his ex-girlfriend Caitlin is getting married. His present girlfriend reveals to have somewhat more experience with sex that he thought. His principal concerns are the hockey game he has that afternoon and the wake for a friend who died. His buddy Randal Graves works as a clerk in the video store next door and he hates his job as much as Dante hates his.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Paul Giamatti portrays Harvey Pekar in American Splendor, but Pekar also appears as himself in the film.
Shari-Springer-Berman.jpg
