Review of God Bless America (2012) by Steve G — 11 Aug 2012

I've always maintained that great satirists have to be like snipers: they must focus in on their specific, deserving target and inflict damage cleanly and precisely. Bobcat Goldthwait demonstrated that he is a great satirist with his films SLEEPING DOGS LIE and WORLD'S GREATEST DAD, but with GOD BLESS AMERICA, his targets are too scattershot and too obvious. He's literally and figuratively firing blindly into a crowd.

The film's plot will be easy to relate to for anyone who's spent five minutes watching Glen Beck or "Keeping Up With The Kardashians": lonely, divorced Frank (Joel Murray) has grown increasingly sick of shallow American culture. When he's diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor, he decides to spend his last days on a violent killing spree, driving across the country to execute reality TV brats, Westboro Baptist church members, and the cast of American Idol. He's assisted in this venture by a 16-year-old girl named Roxie (Tara Lynn Barr), who's motivations remain unclear.

Roxie's character is problematic, both because of her character's murky motivations and Barr's lack of real dramatic heft. There's a scene about midway through the film where Roxie goes on a tirade against JUNO and Diablo Cody, and all I could think was how much I wish Ellen Page had been cast in this role (but then, she already played a very similar character in James Gunn's SUPER). As for Murray, he looks the part of the sad sack and he has a certain shaggy vulnerability that I found appealing, but I was never really sold on his abrupt transformation into a mass murderer.

There's a certain vicarious thrill to be had watching Frank and Roxie execute America's creme-de-la-crap (although a scene in a movie theater has an unfortunate resonance), but Goldthwait seems intent on portraying these characters as heroic, rather than acknowledging that they're deeply mentally ill and, well, kinda facist. What's worse is that the subject of Frank's wrath are simply too easy (tabloid journalists, tea party fear mongers), and the film makes only passing reference to the martyrdom-status that Frank and Roxie's victims acheive. There's some real comic potential bubbling beneath the surface of this film, but it's inundated with ugly, uncomfortable violence that completely undermines the film's message.