keyhole

Nary a chuckle to be found in the whole excruciating 103 minutes. The film starts out okay with Fonda and Alda playing a divorced couple fighting over custody of their teenage daughter. There are some semi-amusing lines about the cultural differences between the East Coast and California. The Maggie Smith/Michael Caine plot line is vaguely interesting for a behind- the-scenes feel of the movie star life. But the Walter Matthau caught-with-a-hooker-in-the-hotel-room-bed shtick is clichéd and poorly played, while the Cosby-Pryor pairing as bickering vacationers is truly awful. "California Suite" is a total waste of a great cast, particularly Cosby & Pryor.

Those of you expecting another "Crumb" are going to be pleasantly surprised. While "Crumb" was in many ways a traditional documentary highlighting the bizarre qualities of R. Crumb and his family, "American Splendor" is an exciting mixture of documentary, docudrama and animation that really "makes you think."

It uses the motif of writer Harvey Pekar's autobiographical comics to explore issues of persona and identity, while simultaneously detailing the dramas of an "average Joe." Pekar, who has worked with R. Crumb and other alternative comics legends, is a fascinating grump, an auto-didact, a man who has made very few compromises - for better or worse. The performances - especially by Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis (as Pekar and wife Joyce Brabner) - are flawless, and the merging of documentary and dramatic retelling is inspired. As a frequent collaborator with Harvey on his "American Splendor" comic, I admit to some bias, but I have no hesitation at all in recommending this brilliant film. See "American Splendor"!