God Bless America Review
By David Kempler
Land That I Want to Wipe Out
About twenty years ago, Bobcat Goldthwait was a mildly successful comic who always struck me as a cleaner and less psychotic version of Sam Kinison. Kinison met a tragic death and Goldthwait's career headed south. Goldthwait is back and he may have a far more promising career as a director than he ever had as a stand-up comedian.
With his "God Bless America", Goldthwait has stepped back into the limelight, and his brand of humor translates well today. Bobcat has constructed Frank (Joel Murray), an "I've had enough" character with a face that shows hopelessness at the beginning and satisfaction as he evolves. Frank is a comedic version of Michael Douglas' persona in "Falling Down".
Frank is despondent, watching television, flicking channels from one inane show to another. With each channel change, you see him sink deeper into depression and revulsion. When he can no longer take it, he puts a loaded gun into his mouth, but before he can pull the trigger and put himself out of his misery, he happens upon a pretty young girl screaming at her father because he bought the spoiled brat the wrong car. Frank pulls the gun out of his mouth and turns his anger outwards to Chloe, the pretty young teenage girl from the reality show.
Frank hunts down Chloe and executes her. 16-year-old Roxy (Tara Lynne Barr) witnesses the murder and responds by saying "Awesome". Frank and Roxy join forces, setting out to execute everyone who
deserves it. They turn into a murderous duo, taking out all of the people that all of us can't stand in real-life.
"God Bless America" becomes a wonderful romp, filled with hysterically sadistic confrontations that go against our legal and moral codes, but fit in perfectly with our need to put creeps in their place. Bobcat may have found his calling as a filmmaking satirist. Let's hope he blesses us with some more in this vein.
