REVIEW: God Bless America

MOVIE
God Bless America

CAST
Joel Murray, Tara Lynne-Barr

RATING
R

RELEASE
April 6, 2012 (VOD)
May 11, 2012 (LIMITED)

DIRECTOR
Bobcat Goldthwait

STUDIO
Magnet Releasing, (Magnolia)
Darko Pictures

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 44 minutes





STARS
****









REVIEW:

The new movie 'God Bless America' tackles on the one thing that seems to be destroying human kindness and self-awareness: pop culture and gossip.  Frank, the main character, has had enough of how corrupt human society has become, which has even affected his ex-wife and his young daughter, who in one scene complains that her parents got her a Blackberry and not an iPhone.  Frank in his hatred for the world along for his life, decides to put a bullet in his mouth.  Before he's able to do that, destiny calls him to kill a '16 and Pregnant' like girl named Chloe, along with her rich parents.  Along the way, Frank meets up with Roxy, a foul mouthed and possibly insane 16 year old who for some reason has the urge to come along with Frank and kill people "who deserve to die."  'God Bless America' may go a bit over the top sometimes (the opening scene of the film will throw you for a loop) but this movie is so controversial that it just becomes a funny, bloody, and awesome movie that will be under-looked unfortunately.  'God Bless America' is one of the best films of 2012 so far, and it may go down as one of the most under looked movies of the year period.

Joel Murray and Tara Lynne Barr are the two main characters that we follow throughout the movie.  Despite some scenes involving other characters (most whom eventually get killed) Joel and Tara, or Frank and Roxy in the film, are the only two characters we see in the movie.  Frank's character may be killing people because he thinks they deserve to die, but from the moment he comes on screen in the shocking and horrid opening sequence the audience absolutely feels his pain and suffering.  Frank is the type of cynical character who you actually care for throughout the film.  Murray is funny, witty, and boss as Frank, and I hope that he gets more roles after this film.  The same goes to Tara Lynne-Barr, who's portrayal of the 16 year old foul mouthed Roxy puts Chloe Moretz's Hit Girl from 'Kick Ass' to shame.  Roxy is hilarious, violent, sometimes shocking, and overall a badass with a gun.  The thing that may turn people away from Lynne-Barr is that she looks really young for her actual age (18) so it may feel a bit weird.  I still feel that she should get more opportunities soon, because she is really talented once you get past her looks and the shock value of her character.  Joel Murray and Tara Lynne-Barr may be the actors of this film, but the real star of 'God Bless America' is writer/director Bobcat Goldthwait.

During the Q&A of my screening of 'God Bless America,' Goldthwait said he wrote this film as a Christmas present to his wife.  If his wife can take a Christmas present as violent as this film is, then there shouldn't be anything stopping Goldthwait from making anything he wants to make.  Bobcat clearly has a sick way of looking at life, but that only adds to the pure enjoyment of his films.  He even describes this film as "a violent film about kindness."  I agree with him on this.  'God Bless America' is violent, funny, and tells a great message about society.  Of course people will hate the fact that (SPOILER) a baby gets shot within the first two minutes of the movie, (END SPOILER) but once you get past that, the film tells a great message about the lack of kind people in this world.  'God Bless America' is currently On-Demand and in theaters in some areas.  I would HIGHLY suggest giving it a go.  It's twisted and very cynical on all boundaries, but the script is well written and the movie is very funny.  After seeing this film, you will never look at human society, the world, or even the song you sing to during Baseball games, the same way again.