Review of God Bless America

God Bless America

The main character, Frank, is a very cynical man that hates the world and believes that the culture surrounding him is slowly going to cause the end of civilization. As if this is not enough, Frank played by Joel Murray, suddenly has everything piled up against him at once, including getting fired from his job, discovering his child does not want to visit him, and a brain tumor that may just kill him if he does not beat the tumor to it.

However, just when he is ready to pull the plug on his life he gets the idea that he should instead take out the wastes of society. At this point in God Bless America Frank heads off on a killing spree to rid the earth of those he believes is harming it and finds a very odd accomplice, a teenager that also hates pop culture and what it has done to her generation.

Roxy (played by Tara Lynne Barr) helps Frank take out several political pundits, some reality television stars, and the audiences that destroy everyone’s good times at the movie theatres by chatting through the films and taking phone calls in the middle of the movie.

Bobcat Goldthwait is the man solely responsible for the satirical God Bless America as he is the writer/director of the film and he writes a very dark and bitter comedy that takes a deep look at the more moronic side of modern culture. For the most part, his take works as the smart satire of the film manages to subtly (and sometimes not no subtly) make very vivid points about what it is that is truly destroying American culture. Plus, a nice soundtrack and good pace help move the film along at a steady and enjoyable pace.

Also adding to the charm of God Bless America is the fact that Barr and Murray play both their roles wonderfully and create characters that are almost charming when they are not busy killing people. Despite the obvious age difference they also really seem to have chemistry on the set which adds to fun of the entire ride. The only problem is that sometimes Goldthwait appears to be trying a bit too hard to make a point and in the end it comes out a bit too one-sided and a bit too forced.

It’s simply better when he lets the action of the film make a point instead of actually forcing the dialogue to make it instead. The targets of God Bless America are spot-on for anyone that lives in America today, as there are plenty of spoiled brats running around on their cell phones and certainly enough reality TV stars to make the average person sick.

However, when Goldthwait spends his time focusing on the story it is just simply better than focusing on a selling point, because this is when the true satirical nature of the film comes out and it sure is a lot more fun.