ironhorse_iv Review of God Bless America

God Bless America (2011)

Ironically, the movie is just as annoying as the people, the main characters are trying to kill.

[6/10 · 27 February 2013]

I understand the point of this dark satire comedy by writer/director Bobcat Goldthwait and its message, but its delivery is quite disappointing with its overabundant use of foul language and violence. The two main characters disillusioned middle-aged man Frank & cynical impulsive teen Roxy (Joel Murray & Tara Barr) are two people in their state of madness mad at everything that's they deem wrong with contemporary American culture, whom embarks on a violent crime spree to kill people. They just as vile as the very people that fueled their insanity to begin with. They are hypocrites. The film definitely drew attention to the flaws of the antagonists, but they never solve their own issues. The film has absolutely no character arc at all. Both characters don't develop for the entire film. They are exactly the same at the beginning as they are at the end. What did they accomplished? They killed a lot of people and the world will still be as screwed up as it always was. The movie preach morality, but doesn't know what morality is. The acting between these two is well done, I give them that, but nothing out of their mouths seem like real narrative. It's mostly complains and rants about everything. It get annoying and tedious. It was really odd for the Roxy's character to constantly hear the voice of the 50-year-old writer spitting out big words, and 1980's pop culture references coming out her teenager mouth. It's not convincingly. Plus, how is Frank able to talk so long, gathering up the right words to preach against something without once tripping up. The writing is well-written, but it's not well-delivered. It's more violence revenge porn than a movie. In the movie, the character Frank complains about radio stars using shock-value, while in the movie has a lot of shock-values scenes. The dream scene of killing a baby and then later on the film, the Aurora theater type-shooting gives the movie a bad taste. While it does a good job parodies famous mindless media sources such as reality televisions, extreme political talking heads, and music. The piece of cinema has no true center. I hate it when a antagonist is saddled with the rhetoric of decency, yet doesn't do anything proactive at all until they turns to violence. Couldn't these issues be dealt with another way. The film loves to badmouth how bad society has gotten, and how America capitalism is the cause of it. This is the 21st century, let's remember how mindless people were when the media play little part of its society. There are more sophisticate people than any time in history. Morality isn't gone, morality is raise by choice, rather than force down by society norms. Still, there comes a point when you've got to stop complaining about how bad everything is and start pushing the world in a better direction by leading by example. It's call maturing. It's OK to socially awkward. Join the club! Most people are socially awkward anyways. We need to be able to have honest conversations and debates about these issues that our society faces without seeking violence. The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.