Review of God Bless America (2012) by Taija H — 30 May 2013

Frank: Why have a civilization if we are no longer interested in being civilized.

"Taking out the trash, one jerk at a time.".

I'm disappointed in myself for waiting as long as I did to finally watch Bobcat Goldthwait's God Bless America. After watching it, I can acknowledge that this is easily a new favorite of mine. This statement deserves a little explanation I believe. There are movies that are favorites because we view them as some of the better movies ever made and then there are favorites that are favorites just because they seem to be perfectly suited to our lives, beliefs, joys, etc. God Bless America is a favorite of mine because I hated every single person Frank and Roxy killed just as much as them. .

Frank is a divorced man, whose daughter is turning into a brat, whose neighbors keep him up, who suffers from migraines, and who is sick and tired of where the country is going and of where it is now. Instead of killing himself, he takes a trip to kill a reality tv star. After doing so, he meets Roxy, who couldn't be happier with what he did. Roxy is a teenage girl. You could describe anti ummm.... everything. Now Roxy teams up with Frank and they take to killing people who don't deserve to die.

There's a lot to love about God Bless America in my mind. I love the play on our television shows. God Bless America makes all the truth of the shows come out by making the fake shows in the film more over the top, but it is all still spot on. I especially loved the news anchor who is obviously a characterization of Bill O'Reilly("You're just a pinhead!"). My favorite thing about the film though are the two leads, Joel Murray as Frank and Tara Lynne Barr as Roxy. The two had a great chemistry and every scene was just beautifully acted by both.

Some may not like the story, some may not like the violence, some may not like the message, and some may just not like the movie period. I for one though loved every single second of this film. I will never ever say that I believe this is one of the best movies ever made, but damn it, it may be one of my favorites. Fuck America(joke, don't come get me Homeland); God Bless Goldthwait's.