Review: God Bless America (2011)

by

13, April 2012Reviews

Cast: Joel Murray, Tara Lynne Barr
Director: Bobcat Goldthwait
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy
Official Trailer: Here

Editor’s Note: God Bless America is currently available on demand, with an upcoming theatrical release on May 11.

Bobcat Goldthwait is a vastly underrated talent in comedic filmmaking. He uses conventional narrative methods in his story delivery but with an unconventional sensibility that showcases his misanthropic wit. He is a solid comedy writer and a surprisingly adept filmmaker. His filmmaking has matured tremendously since early efforts like Shakes the Clown, but the misanthropic sensibilities of his comedy are always at center stage. This odd dynamic works to create solid comedy films that are overtly sinister, but the characters are usually following their path in all earnestness and doing what seems like the right thing to do within the context of the story. He seems to get great joy from the perverse premises of his films, but the films are never heartless and there is always a pragmatic sensibility at the subtext.

His filmmaking has matured tremendously since early efforts like Shakes the Clown, but the misanthropic sensibilities of his comedy are always at center stage.

Bobcat is always considerate enough to include a litmus test within the first five minutes of his films. God Bless America is no exception to this, and if you’re cool with watching a man’s graphic fantasy that involves skeet shooting a baby and covering the mother in blood, then you’ll be set for anything else that comes up in the rest of the film. There aren’t going to be any surprises in the second act that will shock anyone left in the audience. I have sense enough to know that films aren’t real, and I’m secure enough in my moral foundation to know that the images aren’t going to hurt me, but it’s good to know that he’s looking out for those that think differently.

…if you’re cool with watching a man’s graphic fantasy that involves skeet shooting a baby and covering the mother in blood, then you’ll be set for anything else that comes up in the rest of the film.

Bobcat paints a pretty horrifying, if barely amplified portrait of current mainstream culture. If one spent too much time consuming mainstream media, it wouldn’t take long to start fanaticizing about going on a nationwide killing spree, silencing the talking heads that try to define the terms of patriotism, idiotic viral videos that are all the talk of the water cooler, bumper sticker patriots, reality television filled with vitriol and overt racism, and all of the other noisy distractions that have been put together with insane amounts of money to exploit our psychology and persuade us to buy their crap. I’m not sure that the country is any more filled with desperate narcissists and loud assholes than it ever has been; I think we’ve just oversaturated ourselves with the means to consume it. You see it on every screen and from every speaker, and most people accept the fact that it is garbage, they just don’t know that turning it off and looking away is also an option.

It is ultimately the death of empathy that Bobcat is lamenting with God Bless America, but those that need the lesson most will probably not stick around long enough to pick up on the subtext. There is a lack of personal responsibility as we dehumanize others, quoting “policy” as the cause for our actions. I don’t want to speculate on whether we are on a collision course with our own demise, because ultimately we are all doomed to face our own mortality. We can’t directly control what constitutes mainstream sensibilities, nor can we silence stupidity as long as it remains profitable. What we can do is decide how we carry ourselves. Whether we choose to define ourselves by our fear of the unknown and lack of acceptance toward others is up to us. If we can somehow manage to do that in the sea of bullshit that we are surrounded by, then maybe things will eventually get better. They probably won’t, so why not have a few laughs and blow off some misanthropic steam by watching Bobcat Goldthwait’s schlubby version of Travis Bickle do what many have probably thought about while watching American Idol?

65/100 ~ OK. It is ultimately the death of empathy that Bobcat is lamenting with God Bless America, but those that need the lesson most will probably not stick around long enough to pick up on the subtext.

Matthew Blevins
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Senior Editor & Film Critic. Behind me you see the empty bookshelves that my obsession with film has caused. Film teaches me most of the important concepts of life, such as cynicism, beauty, ugliness, subversion of societal norms, and what it is to be a tortured member of humanity. My passion for the medium is an important part of who I am as I stumble through existence in a desperate and frantic search for objective truths.
  • http://www.socialurl.com/PlanetDahmz Reed

    Good review, and I agree with the score. It was a fun time, but at the same time, the pop culture references became almost “too much” (even though that’s the whole point of the film, I guess).