God Bless America

Plot synopsis:
Frank Murdoch (Joel Murray) is a middle-aged insurance salesman living in Syracuse, New York, who is sick with how the United States has fallen into a state of rudeness based on pop culture, talk radio, television, and internet influences. After a boring evening of watching television, Frank visualizes killing his loud and inconsiderate neighbors, whose baby's screams exacerbate his chronic migraine headaches and rob him of sleep. His ex-wife Alison (Melinda Page Hamilton) has custody of their daughter Ava (Mackenzie Brooke Smith), who has become a typical spoiled brat. Matters come to a head when he is fired after 11 years' service at the insurance company for obtaining a female co-worker's address without authority merely so as to innocently send her roses to lift her spirits; then told by his profane and disinterested doctor that he has an inoperable, terminal brain tumor.
Frank prepares to commit suicide but stops as his TV features a reality show starring Chloe (Maddie Hasson), an extremely spoiled teenager, and has an epiphany. The next day, he steals his noisy neighbor's car and drives to Chloe's school and, after unsuccessfully attempting to blow her up in her car, he shoots her at point-blank range. One of Chloe's classmates, Roxanne "Roxy" Harmon (Tara Lynne Barr), witnesses this and applauds him. Roxy follows Frank back to his motel where he is once again preparing to commit suicide; initially egging him on, Roxy then talks him out of it. Frank explains to Roxy that he only wants bad people to die – people who have committed blatant acts of cruelty and stupidity against their fellow man. Roxy suggests they kill Chloe's parents and he agrees. Frank shoots Chloe's father (Larry Miller), and after a brief chase, Roxy stabs her mother (Dorie Barton). Roxy convinces Frank to take her along by painting herself the tragic victim of her drug-addicted mother and rapist step-father. They then decide to go on the lam, continuing their killing spree. They visit a movie theatre to watch a documentary about the 1968 My Lai Massacre. During the film, several teenagers enter the nearly empty theatre and immediately act obnoxiously, talking aloud and on their cell phones. One of them throws popcorn at Frank. Frank and Roxy shoot and kill all but the least aggravating of them who Frank thanks for not being rude. Subsequently, they kill several others, including a rude man who double-parks his car, several extremist religious right protesters, and Michael Fuller (Regan Burns), a popular, abrasive conservative political television commentator.
During an evening while they're laying low, Roxy suggests to Frank that they move to France and 'go legit', to raise goats and make cheese, and avoid prosecution for the murders they've committed. Returning a phone message from his doctor, Frank learns there was a mix-up with his MRI results (the image was of another patient named Frank) and that he has no tumor and probably just suffers from any one of a number of relatively inconsequential ailments. Frank's new lease on life is spoiled when, while eating breakfast in the motel diner with Roxy and discussing their travel-to-France plans, a leering redneck at the next table labels Roxy an underage prostitute and Frank her pimp. The same day, Frank sees a TV news missing person report in which Roxy's parents (Andrea Harper and David Mendenhall) appear wholesome and concerned, a far cry from her description. Incensed at the deception, Frank takes out his anger on the leering diner, garroting him in his room. Frank takes the man's pickup truck and, as he is leaving, tells Roxy he knows the truth. She confesses but says she had to get away from a life of bland conformance and experience something 'un-normal'. Frank leaves her the stolen car and they split up.
Frank buys an AK-47 assault rifle from an illegal arms dealer (Mike Tristano) and makes his way to Los Angeles. Frank sees another TV news report that shows Roxy back home with her elated parents and that he is wanted for abducting her. Unbeknownst to him, Roxy is not happy to be back home. Frank goes to and gains access into the American Superstarz studio, kills several audience members and one judge, and holds the other judges, contestants, and the audience hostage. As the SWAT team arrives, Roxy also appears and joins Frank on stage, and she apologizes for lying to him. Frank makes a brutally honest speech in front of the TV camera about the ridiculousness and selfishness that is promoted in today's American society and on television. Frank then tells Roxy she is a pretty girl, and they proceed to shoot the judges, contestants and several members of the audience before they are gunned down by the police.

Tags: violence, comedy, satire, murder

Review:
The film's outlandish violence perfectly captures Horace Walpole's epigram, "This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel." Unfortunately, as the movie points out, few people are now capable of either thinking or feeling..
This is "The One" Feel-Good movie I've been missing since long time.Each day and night after work or watching world and local TV news if you start feeling frustration because of stupidity of people, politicians, dictators, and pointless empty TV shows like the ones in this movie, you need something to calm yourself down.This is a movie that takes all those rage and poison out of your mind and make you sleep well at night.It is as satisfying as playing Doom in God Mode, just to shoot those Evils with that Shotgun or your shiny BFG9000, after those long, long meetings with stupid PowerPoint slide readers!It is as satisfying as a long run in Castle Wolfenstein, bringing down those Nazis shouting Achtung, one by one, after a long night working after hours ...
He finds an early fan and confidant in precocious teenager Roxy (Tara Lynne Barr), and decides to bring her along for the ride with him.God Bless America is not so much of a film as it is a treatise on what is wrong with pop culture in the modern United States.
Writer/director Bobcat Goldthwait packs the film full of allusions and satires of reality television primarily, but trickles down to political news shows, celebrity gossip, social networking, texting, and more.
But God Bless America is too subversive a film to ever conceivably be watched by these kinds of people.
But unless he really wants people to just laugh and forget about it moments later, then there is really no other way one can possibly read it.While I felt for how agonizing some of the dialogue must have been to deliver, I really enjoyed Murray's performance as Frank.
This film is a gem...the main character and his life were easily acceptable and plausible and his outlook on modern American life whilst predictable, knowing the movie's theme...was perfectly understandable.
This movie is great,intelligent,funny at times,saddening at other times.Acting by Joel Murray was brilliant.I don't recognize Ms Tara Lynne Barr but I predict for her a bright full acting career.The movie asks why American people turned into aggressive,mean,unrelenting,hellbent on hurting others creatures.And why American children became ill-behaved,spoiled,nightmare begins.It may force to think about things in live,or it may not.it all depends on your character,your way of life.But believe me,you should watch that movie..
'GOD BLESS America': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)A dark and very violent political satire (as well as social commentary) written and directed by actor/comedian turned filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait.
The film is sort of like the movie 'SUPER' (from last year) except darker, or you could say it's like 'NATURAL BORN KILLERS' except lighter, or 'BONNIE AND CLYDE' (which it references several times).
Written and directed by American comedian Bobcat Goldthwait comes this tale of Frank (Joel Murray), a downtrodden sad sack of a man whose miserable and lonely existence away from an estranged wife and daughter is accompanied by insomnia, noisy neighbours, reality television in all it's most evil manifestations and an ever increasing lack of patience.
For those who found the movie so "hilarious", could you provide any examples of this supposed hilarity?It's preachy: look, I agree with most of the main character's points about modern (North American) culture: it tends to be mean-spirited, vacuous, punishes rather than rewards intellectualism, etc.
In the process of this critique though, the movie evolves from good ol' fashioned satire, to one of those hated "fear mongering" ministers preaching to his mindless flock.The effects are fine, there really aren't any besides bullet wounds and what you would expect from a movie like this.The characters don't seem to develop much beyond their desire to kill everyone that the Average Joe wants to kill.
Come on now..) and one sided (I failed to see any skewering of liberal ideals), it comes off as just another movie shoving political jargon in my face (with a side helping of, "hey we should also throw in the murder of some people that everyone hates so the movie is not too political!").I, personally, did not like this.This reminds me..I also disliked the preachy monologues by the characters.
Frank goes on a diatribe comparing American Idol to the Colosseum, which was actually somewhat funny and true but he continues on about a host of other things and it soon feels like he is simply rambling.
Many of these statements did not come across as well justified either(to me at least),they felt thrown out there as if the writers/director expected the audience to already agree with them before seeing the movie.In the end, I can't say I found what I was looking for in this film.
This movie is a low budget film that anybody around my age (35) can definitely relate to.Frank (Joel Murray) is divorced, his daughter hates him, he lives in an apartment next to neighbors he hates, he gets fired, and has been diagnosed with a brain tumor.
Frank is a truly decent man who has been seemingly dealt a bad hand and decides that he is going to do some good before he checks out in the form of eliminating some things that are wrong with the world .The same thing that makes games like G.T.A. Borderlands2 etc.
From this point on, unfortunately, without saying much, the movie falls into several paradoxes and loses its focus.At its core, GBA is a good social satire with nonstop commentary on the problems with pop culture and society, but on the same coin, the movie tries so hard that it feels like a rant by an angry liberal rather the good satire it initially set out to be.
The good, however, lies in the great shooting scenes, some of the great commentary made by Frank (most of what Roxy says makes you roll your eyes if not question what in the world the movie was going for), the dark humor, the targets for satire, the over the top story, its entertainment, and overall its a solid 9/10 movie but...The bad lies in the second act, on Roxy's faulty and forced character, its endless rants between our two main character that makes you want them to kill themselves as the next person on their killing spree, the people targeted (whats wrong with high fives and country music?
Instead every time I went to smile and applaud the commentary, something matter of taste or the character discontinuity got in the way...good movie, definitely one everyone should watch, but sadly, for what it could have been and set out to be, very flawed..
A good comedy top, and almost a parody of Natural born killers from 1994.Like a modern William D-Fens Foster (Falling Down 1993), but with a smiley on his belt, is going berserk in moral disgust with todays society.
The themes are all from the seven deadly sins, to gun control, school massacres, mad law enforcement, drugs, religious hatred, stupid talent-shows, lame commercials and media's awful ridicule and abuse of persons which should be rather guarded away and protected instead of being put out on TV as entertainment.Accompanied by a great soundtrack with some great forgotten songs from the eighties or there about, and fine acting all the way through, this has become well worth a watch.Of course God Bless America is a strange bastard of a film, but should be regarded as a good criticism of us building a society on the opposite ideas of what we should, in a moral decay.
Inside the micro-universe of films with a similar plot, I would put God Bless America very below Natural Born Killers, but at the same level of Falling Down, which made similar observations, but about the problems from the early '90s.
GOD BLESS America is not a great movie, but I am willing to accept whatever flaws and weaknesses it contains because I love the message.
Not so much that America's cultural issues should be solved with excessive violence, but, as the main character Frank puts it, "Why have a civilization anymore if we are no longer are interested in being civilized?" The movie is about Frank and it all begins on a day when his life comes crashing down around him.
In the process, he meets precocious teen Roxy who shares in his distaste in modern society and the two of them set off on a killing spree across America, targeting media darlings that represent the worst our culture has to offer.As I said, GOD BLESS America has its flaws but overall it is an entertaining movie with a message I can get behind.
I, on the other hand, thought the movie was plenty funny with a great underlying message: America and its people might want to reconsider our priorities..
America is now sucked up into the this pop corn culture, sink into social media face book/twitter, fascinating by the celebrities' lifestyle, turning Americans into jokers on shows like American Idol etc and most importantly putting up their families on TV on the name 0of reality for fame and money.
Note that while this would normally allow them to remain human and fallible, when they set out to violently redress social affronts, tolerance for this fallibility are stressed to the breaking point, and the film constantly blurs that line between trenchant myth-making and snuff porn for liberals.Y'know, I think there's a simpler way to say this: Che said that true revolutionary action is guided by feelings of love.
the film brings valid points but it loses credits by the time they start hating personal tastes and other stuff, like bands and even the act of saying "namaste".
it seems like the movie it's full of morals but has a completely lack of ethic.I recommend watching it, it's the perfect example of how easy is to be hypocritical and how we must think through our actions.that's all, I don't have anything else to say because I can make my point in less than 10 freaking lines but I'm forced to write more because of IMDb's review system, sorry for this extra paragraph..
This movie is not only mindless, but mean spirited as well.Sure, it is easy to hate reality TV, the Kardashians and the supposedly less than bright people we find ourselves surrounded by in real life or on TV.
but every so often, I've heard exasperated everyone saying that if Gandhi lived in this era, he would pick up an assault rifle and start a killing spree as a part of Ethical (don't read Ethnic) Cleansing God Bless America is a breath of fresh air, a message clearly passed to all of us living in this Epoch to GROW UP.., look around us and realize that there are much eviler problems for us to deal with other than Daniel Radcliffe being Gay (so what if he supports Homo Sexuality) or Aishwarya Rai being fat Joe Murray and Tara have done a wonderful job in passing on this message to us Each frame executed with utmost professionalism to bad that they did not get the Oscar...
Along the way we meet a socially awkward teenage girl called Roxy, who teams up with Frank and convinces him not to bother killing himself, and instead, perhaps focus his desire for ending life towards the other members of pop society he hates.The Roxy/Frank relationship is of course referenced as Bonnie/Clyde, and is an enjoyable pairing to watch.
This gives them a comical tone, and gives the impression that these scenes (which are meant to represent the worst aspects of American pop culture), have been dumbed down to try and make the point.This brings us to the overall larger issue that as a whole, is the film's only real flaw - it is unnecessarily preachy.
This movie is just left-wing political propaganda.Contains a few funny scenes to hold your attention while you watch all those long and boring dialogues where the script writers try to stuff their beliefs in you.Long and boring dialogues telling you that gun control is bad, saying that straight people are evil and bash gays all the time, etc.
The story takes place in the United States, but it could happen here in Brazil without changing anything in the plot ...The main idea of the film somewhat resembles "Idiocracy," but the execution (plot, actors and arguments used) is much better.The current media produces movies, news and programs for retarded (there are a few exceptions, of course).
It's hard not to identify yourself with the main characters and not cheer for them.In short, if you hate shows like "American Idol", is almost certain you will enjoy God Bless America..
The characters are often viciously unlikable and hideously hypocritical – Roxy's left-wing mantra sees her rage against right-wingers who lobby for foreign wars and are against gay-marriage yet exudes a punk-fascism herself.It is remarkable as to how cine-literate the film is – done deliberately, I'm sure, to disorientate the audience as it makes its overall point on the commoditised nature of American culture.
It is Neil Postman merged with Hedges by way of the now conventional point on how the Western world has largely adopted the model of the universe found in Aldous Huxley's novel "Brave New World": where Orwell feared totalitarian regimes banning books, the reality now is that no one is willing or able to read them having been 'educated' out of liking high-culture and taught to sneer at intellect.Few things have changed since "God Bless America's" release, but then it has only been three years.
This is not a bad film, by any means, its not boring, its competently shot and can be funny/touching at times, having said that, there is one big problem with this latest dark comedy: Originality.the film follows the exploits of loner Frank(played by Joel Murray) and his precocious sidekick Roxy (a very cute and energetic Tara Lynne Bar) while they shoot their way trough the United States, leaving a trail of dead celebrities, politicians and rude people in general.While this was an opportunity to delve into satire territory, the film instead plays with south park like parodies of reality shows and often turns into a kind of fantasy about violently dealing with the things the writer doesn't like about America, and as i mentioned, it has been done before and better.Last year's Super starring Rainn Wilson provided an incredibly similar feel, in fact comparisons between the 2 films and specially between Ellen Page character in that one and Tara Lynn bar in this one cant be avoided; however that film had something this film doesn't; the notion that the vigilantes were disturbed, misguided people, and that both sides of the coin were equally sick.Director Bobcat Goldhwait, has repeatedly shown a talent for mixing mature drama, with incredibly childish and dark humor, as shown in his 2 previous efforts 2009's "world greatest dad" and 2006"stay"; and in this entry the trend continues, however the tender relationship between the 2 characters, and the serious way it treats it, detract from the satiric notion of the film and turns it into a romantic liberal fantasy.in short, if you liked super, south park or hate American Idol and any Kardashian show, this will give you 2 fun hours, however don't expect this film to be discussed that much in the future..
The plot then proceeds with him going around killing the mean people.The great thing is that the film also manages to pull itself off as a comedy.
Viewed broadly it brings into sharp focus the mindset prevailing across the globe.I feel the same frustrations and anger that the main characters feel when i see what is going on in my country.I can bet a lot of people in different parts of the world feel the same thing.Its a critique of humanity and not just the United States.Its a wake up call for each and every one of us.It is a tapestry of the decline of empire.An absolutely brilliant movie in its concept.Execution could have been better perhaps but it gets the point across completely and with absolute clarity.A must see movie.
Goldthwait has said that one of his models for the script was the film Network, which upon its release was seen as satire: Surely no TV executives could really be *that* cynical, surely people didn't want to be on TV *that* much, surely the profit motive isn't the *only* motive.Some 35 years later, we realize that the sort of thing which must have seemed repellent then, is now enjoyed by millions of families several times a week.
This movie was made for people like Frank, and everyone who is watching America and what's left of humanity and civilization get flushed down the toilet VIA cell phones, cable TV and the internet.
This movie might strike a nerve with the people Frank and Roxy are targeting, which, unfortunately seems to be most of America...
The first Bobcat movie I saw was World's Greatest Dad, which was another excellent piece, but God Bless America just blew my mind in so many directions!
Written and directed by 80s comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, who's last directed Robin Williams a few years ago in another dark comedy called "World's Greatest Dad".In "God Bless America" middle aged every man Frank (played by Joel Murray) is fed with society becoming meaner and meaner.
Like a lot of comedies the less you really think about it the better.This movie is extremely satirical and sarcastic and is not for everyone.
Whilst everyone enjoys the killing of people that annoy you, this film feels as if it glosses over its main target point to focus on the relationship of our two characters.
That's Spanish for "and silence is right." So there is one more scene that I would like to talk about that was shown in the preview and that is the part where Frank and Roxy were going to the movies and there are people talking and texting and how do they shut them up?