Fantastic!

As Good As It Gets

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This is a documentary about the famous underground cartoonist, Robert Crumb, creator of characters such as Fritz the Cat. It is a very different type of documentary from the ones I usually come across. I enjoy watching docs about serial killers and murderers, to understand them a little better. This is not your typical documentary. It's about a very mundane, if not boring life of a man who enjoys spending his time observing people, drawing them and listening to classical music. The film shows him going to meet his brothers. They live very depressing lives, especially Charles Crumb, a man you can't help but feel sorry for. I explained in my review of Mary and Max (2009) that I hadn't seen was film that made me understand the topic of depression better than it. Well, this film is, perhaps, a better case study on the effects of depression on people than the other movie ever was, since this is all real. 'Crumb' is also about the man's relationships with other women, why it didn't work out, why it did, what he thinks of women, what his ideologies are on the topic of romance, all interestingly said by an interesting man who was sadly gifted with a dull life. Is it as monotonous as I'm building it up to be though? This is the part the film delves into the most: Crumb, the magnificent artist. What he really is. The way he describes things, I could listen to for days. What makes an artist? What influences their work? Underground art was revolutionized by Robert Crumb. His work portrayed sexual and surreal themes in a dark, comedic way. I guess the documentary tried to tell me how he got such a mindset, to create all that he did: his walk of life (imo)- the things only he saw, the things only he knows of. This is why makes an artist. This is what made Crumb. Amazing thought provoking documentary.

Robert Crumb is a cartoonist who is most famous for Keep On Truckin' and Fritz the Cat. He is renowned for his outsider counter-culture cartoons in the 60s and 70s. When he is first on the screen, he seems to be the introverted weird nerd that everybody picks on. The movie interviews his brothers Maxon and Charles, and then we realize that Robert is most normal and well-adjusted of the brothers. Robert reveals his juvenile sexual visions, the tormented childhood, and his controversial inappropriate cartoons.This is an interesting insight into the outsider mind of Robert Crump. I also love the two brothers and their relationships. These are fascinating unique American characters. It's also interesting to see the women in Robert's life. The movie is a little too long. I find that parts of it is relatively repetitive. Overall, it's a good documentary of an interesting personality.

Robert Crumb has become an icon in the world of underground comic artists, and this documentary takes a close look at his work and the often unhappy life that informed it with an intimacy that is both gratifying and disturbing. Crumb's art and career are celebrated here on film even while his dysfunctional adolescence, his personal insecurities and his sexual obsessions are dissected by family, friends, pop psychologists and other invited crackpots. We see how, by his own understanding, that young Robert Crumb developed his talent as a vehicle to reach out and connect with other people, especially girls, and then had to deal with the frustrations resulting from his failure to achieve success with this. We see how his cartooning style evolved, how certain repeated subjects and motifs found their way into his work.We get a close up view of Robert Crumb that is almost too close up. The film's intimacy with its subject creates an almost claustrophobic feel, especially since Crumb himself is almost painfully awkward and lacking in personal charm, his mother is an ogress, his wife and daughter seem wary and stiff on camera, and his older brother is borderline crazy.Especially interesting is Robert Crumb's brother Charles, who is also a cartoonist and quite talented but clearly mentally unbalanced. His work shows genuine technical polish and is extremely evocative. It is also morbid and obsessive to the point of wallowing in darkness and despair, since its creator is an over-40, out of work dingbat who lives and works in the attic of the Crumb family home. Charles was a key inspiration to the young Robert Crumb, yet he is also an object lesson. With a little less professional drive and career focus, Robert could easily have followed his brother's path in life and art.

Here is a well done documentary of a very strange man named Robert Crumb who rose to fame as a cartoonist. His comics are off-beat, sometimes racist and almost always degrading to women. There is no disputing any of this from even Robert Crumb himself. Crumb just claims that all this stuff is inside him and needs to come out through his pencil. I actually admire this kind of truthful approach. Filmmakers Martin Scorsese and Federico Fellini come to mind as two others who put a lot of themselves in their work, although they do it on film and not paper. Robert Crumb became popular in the 60's for his psychedelic comics of the time including ZAP comics, one of his most popular. He has two brothers, Charles and Maxon who can also draw well but have had no real success with it. It's hard to believe but seeing these two brothers makes you actually realize that Robert was the "normal" one in the family! Definitely a scary thought. Has success gone to Robert's head? The answer is no. He consistently turns down offers from Hollywood that would make him very rich. Although I admire things about him, I found him kind of a jerk from how he treated other people. One instance is when someone says they love his work and would like an autograph and Crumb wouldn't even look at him and basically just let out his usual defensive laugh. What is curious though is that his wife, son and daughter seem almost well adjusted. Interesting. This movie is an interesting look into a strange artists life which delves into his tough upbringing to see just where all his twisted ideas come from. The DVD itself comes with a commentary by Roger Ebert and other goodies. Good Stuff!