Throughout “American Splendor,” Harvey Pekar goes by the mantra, “Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff.” This film, depicting his own life, proves that statement is true.

In the film, Pekar makes light of ordinary frustrations. For example, when a woman in front of him at the grocery store check-out counter takes too long, it irritates him to no end. This scene shows what this movie is all about: The extraordinary things that happen in an otherwise ordinary life.

Since 1976, Pekar has turned his seemingly simple life into a successful comic book called “American Splendor,” which in turn led to a major motion picture of the same name.

Like Pekar’s life, this movie, displaying his life in all its mundane glory, is much more than average. An interesting plot device used is switching back and forth from comic book drawings of Pekar and his friends, then back to actual footage of those depicted.

One part has Pekar watching Paul Giamatti, the actor portraying him, who is watching actor Donal Logue playing Pekar in a play. Or maybe Logue is playing Dan Castellaneta, the actor who actually played the part of Pekar in that production.

When we first meet Pekar, he is a child trick-or-treating on Halloween. The other children are dressed as superheroes, but he comes dressed in his own 1950s era street clothes. The film shows even at this early age that he would rather be himself than a pretend comic book hero.

To me, this is an irony. For many of my fellow comic book geeks, Pekar has actually become a comic book hero, but he’s more of an anti-hero.

That’s because Harvey Pekar the character is often portrayed as selfish and insensitive. He lives alone in a dingy apartment with only his collections of old records and comic books to keep him company. He doesn’t want to be alone but is often very unpleasant to live with, which is why his first two marriages probably failed. In short, he’s not a very likable character.

I found that while watching the film, his unique combination of self-awareness and self-obsession can be extremely difficult to take.

This is particularly true when Pekar is shown arguing about prices with homeowners who are having a garage sale. Is this guy so petty that this how he has to get his kicks?

The movie redeems itself though, especially in the touching scene showing how Pekar met his future wife, Joyce Brabner, played by Judy Davis. Joyce is a woman who is as seeming unlovable as Pekar himself. This is bit clich‚, but maybe there is someone out there for everybody, even grouches like Harvey Pekar.

Pekar often comments about loneliness. At the same time, he talks about the sweetness of life in a way that shows he is not all that different from the rest of us. What is different, though, is that Pekar decided to make a whole new type of comic book — one about himself.