Harvey Pekar

Curmudgeon, contrarian, misanthrope, naysayer, malcontent, dyspeptic, negative. The characters in I, Curmudgeon have at least one thing in common. At various points in their lives, someone has used one of the above words to describe them. And what have they done to deserve such labels? Maybe it’s because, to paraphrase one of the characters in the film “It’s not all good” and they know it. To these people and people like them, it seems like everywhere they go, whether explicitly or implicitly, something is being celebrated. They don’t know what all the celebrating is about and sometimes they’re compelled to question it. Then again maybe they’re a bunch of cranks and complainers. As another character in the film admits “I express dissatisfaction with some regularity and consistency”. And in the case of this character at least, he has no reason or desire to change.