God Bless America

Impressions before seeing it
I didn't entirely know what this was about, but I saw Bobcat Goldthwait promoting it on Attack of the Show a while back, along with a clip of the main characters shooting folks in a movie theater, and the idea of Bobcat making a violent movie intrigued me.

How was it?
I think this movie is potentially easy to misinterpret, and probably even easier to dislike. It is made for a specific type of person, and that is its only flaw, but more on that in a moment.

Frank (played by Joel Miller, one of those "Oh, that guy" actors finally in a starring role) flips through TV stations with a frown as he not only observes all the crap that passes for entertainment these days, but also acknowledges sadly to himself what this means for the state of American society. There are few decent people left, because modern Western lifestyle begets shallow, dumb, spoiled, mean, exploitative idiots and then rewards that behaviour. Pessimistic, yes, but also realistic. Depressed and suicidal, Frank almost offs himself but first decides to kill an annoying reality TV star. The act impresses Roxy (Tara Lynn Barr), a classmate of the victim, eventually leading to the two of them going on a douche-killing spree.

This movie is almost like Super meets Taxi Driver. Someone else on the internet described it as "Falling Down meets Leon", which I suppose also works. Both actors are excellent here, and I found it to be a lot of fun watching them bond over their pet peeves and treat murder like a casual hobby. But don't misunderstand that aspect: this movie isn't saying that someone should go out and kill all of the insufferable morons out there. That, which was Frank's mistake, would be blaming the individuals instead of the group. If you're truly a dick, it's probably not your fault; you just grew up in a misguided environment. Does that mean you deserve to die? Maybe, maybe not; it shouldn't be up to someone else to decide that. But it's not going to make a difference, because there will always be annoying morons as long as society keeps churning them out. That's what this movie is really saying: Western culture produces a lot of idiots, but too few people are aware that that is a problem because those same idiots have become the majority. Ironically, this is where this film's own existence becomes problematic; none of those dunces would likely watch a movie like this, therefore never getting the message, which means this movie ends up preaching to the choir. I would say it's up to us to show it to people we hate, but that would be equivalent to Frank and Roxy killing them; an individual here or there won't make a difference in the workings of an entire nation. We have to change as a whole if we're going to change at all.

Recommendation
There is danger of finding God Bless America too preachy or disconnected, but I think it definitely speaks to that type of person who is frustrated by our shallow, exploitative culture. If that sounds like you, have fun living vicariously through this dark comedy action thrill ride! I know I did.