LIFE IN PICTURES.("American Splendor")(Movie Review)

This is a wild guess, but I suspect that the title of "American Splendor" is touched with irony. There are many qualities that one associates with Harvey Pekar, the hero of the movie, but "splendor" is not the first that leaps to mind. He is a creature of grimace and gloom, who works as a file clerk at a hospital in Cleveland. This gives him a promising backdrop for his hypochondria, and for his general state of cranky disrepair. "I have a problem with cleanliness," he admits, scratching his scalp as if to check that his head is still in place. As if that weren't bad enough, Harvey has one more problem: he is real.

"American Splendor" is directed by Shari ...