American Splendor (2003)

As glad as I am to not have to go through another talking-head documentary, was the approach taken here really the correct one? Far be it from me to say that a quasi-documentary about a man's life becoming his art should probably not feel so artificial... but fuck it, it's my site and my opinion and I'm saying it. The fourth-wall smashing and kaleidoscopic nature of this film's real-life-vs.-REAL-real-life works so long as the film remains flippant, but once things turn serious, we're at a loss -- all the unusual and original storytelling devices, while clever, also keep the viewer distanced from the material, so that the last half of the film feels like formulaic desperation. Which is just about the last thing that should ever happen to a documentary. The performances, without fail, are fantastic, but an abundance of missteps keep this film on the ground. (The Letterman-meltdown recreation was a bad, bad idea.)

Grade: B-