In the list of people who were cheated out of an Oscar - well, forget the Oscar, how about not even a nomination - Paul Giamatti should be near the top of the list for "Sideways." Here, playing "American Splendor" comic writer Harvey Pekar, he gives earlier evidence for his gift of characterization.
The film is done in an interesting way - it's interspersed with the real Pekar and his real wife Joyce, and where it normally would be intrusive, it isn't in this case. Pekar is a file clerk who started writing comics about his miserable life. His stories caught on with the public, and he found himself invited on "Letterman" several times. A lonely man, he also found a wife when Joyce wrote to him to get a copy of the latest comic book. On meeting her for the first time, he said, "I need to tell you now. I've had a vasectomy." Yet during a bout with cancer, he and Joyce wound up with Danielle, a friend's daughter. A man with nothing who wanted to leave a footprint ends up with fame, a family, and a cancer cure, all of which he has chronicled in his comics.
The performances are right-on, very real, and very much like the characters the actors play. As Joyce, Hope Davis is excellent and manages to keep a poker face. In the almost scary scene of Joyce and Harvey's first date, she throws up her dinner and has to face Harvey's trashed, overcrowded apartment. She then says, "Harvey, I think we should skip the courtship and just get married." She's a quiet riot. Judah Friedlander is great as Pekar's work friend Toby, a nerd among nerds who gets a bit of fame himself through Harvey when he has a gig on M-TV.
And Giamatti is an amazing Pekar - shleppy and miserable. Definitely one of the best actors we have today.
Excellently made film.
The film is done in an interesting way - it's interspersed with the real Pekar and his real wife Joyce, and where it normally would be intrusive, it isn't in this case. Pekar is a file clerk who started writing comics about his miserable life. His stories caught on with the public, and he found himself invited on "Letterman" several times. A lonely man, he also found a wife when Joyce wrote to him to get a copy of the latest comic book. On meeting her for the first time, he said, "I need to tell you now. I've had a vasectomy." Yet during a bout with cancer, he and Joyce wound up with Danielle, a friend's daughter. A man with nothing who wanted to leave a footprint ends up with fame, a family, and a cancer cure, all of which he has chronicled in his comics.
The performances are right-on, very real, and very much like the characters the actors play. As Joyce, Hope Davis is excellent and manages to keep a poker face. In the almost scary scene of Joyce and Harvey's first date, she throws up her dinner and has to face Harvey's trashed, overcrowded apartment. She then says, "Harvey, I think we should skip the courtship and just get married." She's a quiet riot. Judah Friedlander is great as Pekar's work friend Toby, a nerd among nerds who gets a bit of fame himself through Harvey when he has a gig on M-TV.
And Giamatti is an amazing Pekar - shleppy and miserable. Definitely one of the best actors we have today.
Excellently made film.