American Splendor

This is a hugely enjoyable and clever portrait of Harvey Pekar, a nerdy Cleveland hospital worker who happens to have become a hugely successful comic-strip author (writing about his almost wholly banal life) and chat-show celebrity. The film is very funny without resorting to condescension, but also genuinely touching in its desire to celebrate a man quite remarkable for being so very unremarkable. A Q&A will follow the screening—one of IFC's Stranger than Fiction presentations—with actor Paul Giamatti, producer Ted Hope and the directors.