Pat Arnold

Thoreau said "most men lead lives of quiet desperation and die with their song still inside them,” happy that Harvey's song was heard. Giamatti is at top of his game (as usual) & makes Pekar lovable in the role. Harvey is like a miserable mumbling jeopardy contestant who works 30 years in the file room but is capable of a 30 day win streak. Reads non-stop, picks yard sales for high end books & records...creative juices flowing while punching clock at the VA. Personal life in comfortable disarray. Everyman love story, great music, riveting.

Still giving 5 stars but I envisioned tears & laughter like the Old Steve Martin “Parenthood” film but for me, my wife & those exiting the theatre, the heavy moments seem to largely outweigh the light hearted ones. Even most of the flashbacks that showed joyous moments were complicated. Tom Hanks’ performance was exceptional as usual and the supporting cast brought dysfunction with humanity but this film will not provide most viewers the laughter you may seek to help shake the winter doldrums. That said, it is a movie worth seeing if you understand that Otto’s character isn’t just older & set in his ways (like most grumpy old men), he is truly troubled by a lifetime of personal disappointment & will remain so for the majority of the film.

Had breakfast at Llanerch Diner the other day. A decade later & the waitresses wearing silver linings tees & the booth Cooper & Lawrence shared is still marked. Went home & watched movie for 1st time. 2 attractive fairly young adults completely dependent on their parents of modest means for survival, experience traumatic life changing events & find an initially awkward connection & a path forward. The cast is nearly perfect. DeNiro is a beast in the role as usual (but dude way too political for me in real life). His character has so many parallels to his son but his wife is his partner, advocate & voice or reason. The end of the movie when DeNiro tells Cooper which path he thinks he should follow is priceless & could have gone either way based on his comments about Lawrence to that point. He had experienced true love despite his many quirks & felt Cooper was presented a similar opportunity. Film is a gem.