God Bless America (2012)

(aka That's What I'm Sayin'!)
Release Date: Available on VOD now; in Theaters on May 11th.
Written and Directed by: Bobcat Goldthwait.
Starring: Joel Murray and Tara Lynne Barr.

Celebutards, the rude, the insensitive, the vapid, the vain, people who give high fives, Twihards, hipsters, hippies, adult women who call their tits "the girls," people who talk during movies, guys that say bro, people that misuse the word "literally," and Diablo Cody...

Those people needs to die and this movie is trying to kill them!

49-year-old Frank just lost his job, he has a brain tumor, and he has a clueless ex-wife and a monster of a daughter. To add insult to injury, there's nothing on TV besides that awful reality garbage and infomercials aimed at the weak-minded, and so he's finally pushed to the point of blowing his own brains out. Given the current state of American Pop Culture, that often times seems like a great plan.

Hey man, nice shot.

He decides at the last minute that he'd much rather kill a whiny, self entitled MTV reality princess first, as she seems to be everything that's wrong with the world. So he steals a car to kill the princess, and along the way finds a partner in crime in a 16-year-old girl who is as embittered about the world as he is.

She mad.

They set off on a murder spree, deciding to rid the world of its blight. Blood, hilarity and some scathing social commentary ensue. *Note: This movie is probably going to insult a lot of people while others who should be insulted, won't be, because they have no clue that they are the people that GBA is making fun of. That's really the fun part of the whole thing, mainly because we're cruel.

They should have gone after The Bachelor first.

This is about as timely and necessary as a movie can possibly be. I have personally been saying that "the dumbing down of America" has been in full-swing for years now, and this movie captures that concept perfectly. Sure, it's over the top and overtly gratuitous, but then so are the targets of the movie's rage.

You could argue that Bobcat Goldthwait made this movie to push his own beliefs and agenda on us, and maybe he did, but it's long past time that someone said what he has here, and in his loud, bold, and shocking fashion. Do people deserve to die for the reasons offered by the films characters? No. The fantasy of silencing said morons is a fun one to watch though. Sick, twisted fun.

What really makes this film great (aside from the idea itself and the sharp script), are its actors. Joel Murray, they youngest of his arguably "more famous" brothers (Bill, Brian Doyle), is great as the disillusioned and fed-up Frank. We've been a fan of his since we first saw him on AMC's Mad Men, and it's nice to see him killing it in a lead role fro a change. The same goes for Tara Lynne Barr; the kiddie show cutie pulls a nice turn as a bad girl who loves killing the feeble-minded. She's going to have a hell of a career. They were both fun to watch.

Trouble makers.

I really wish they would have gone after the Toddler's and Tiara's and the Jersey Shore's of the world. So much of what makes up Reality TV these days is nothing more than horrible people on screen being horrible to everyone around them. What does that say about the people tuning in to watch that garbage?

Modern pop culture in America is nothing more than a superficial and shallow mess of hate, fear, avarice, and ignorance, and the public eats it up as fast as the creators can churn it out. Gone are the days when people followed celebrities for their music or movie contributions, or admired them for their talent or what they had to offer the world artistically. Now, society has become obsessed with knowing how much cocaine Lindsay Lohan did at Club Super Whore, or who Kim Kardashian is making piss videos with this week. As over the top as the movie is, it's definitely grounded in reality to a certain point, and that is indeed a sad indictment of our society.

There's plenty of blood and gun shot wounds to go around in this one. We also get a stabbing and some other violence, but the coup de grace has to be the exploding baby. Seriously, who knew babies had so much blood in them?

Baby made a mess.

Despite 16-year-old Roxy trying to convince 40-something Frank to do some crazy Daddy/Daughter role-play sex, it never happened. We think it's because Joel Murray is a prude... that, or maybe because it might have been too creepy and not really fit his character. Either way, missed opportunity.

America is full of sheep; annoying, debased sheep. Also, Bobcat Goldthwait is a pretty good director. Who knew?

Never call a pissed off girl with a gun, a bitch. Not ever.

God Bless America is a movie that hits so many nails on the head and drives them through the board, that it's really hard not to absolutely love it. Joel Murray and Tara Lynne Barr are both great in their roles, and Bobcat Goldthwait has given us a fun (and much needed) jab at Pop Culture in America.

See this movie, and revel in its brilliance.

A

She may only be 18-years-old, and a Disney actress to boot, but Tara Lynne Barr is cute and sassy enough to make us take notice. Innocent notice; not dirty notice like we usually take, because man, she's just too young to creep on... Then again she likes killing and did try to have sex with Freddie Rumsen, so who are we to say.