God Bless America (Bobcat Goldthwait, 2011)

[domino harvey]

I know Goldthwait's last film, World's Greatest Dad, had its fans on the board (and I count myself among them), and his followup sounds like another winner-- especially promising are the Mike Judge comparisons. Less promising are the Super comparisons. Joel Murray was a riot on Dharma and Greg, so if nothing else it's amazing that he's the lead!

[mfunk9786]

The film sounds great, though I'm rather disturbed by the assertion that anyone, or anything, was a riot on Dharma and Greg

[tarpilot]

I didn't like World's Greatest Dad, but it was at least a significant step forward from Sleeping Dogs Lie. If he can keep the on-the-nose musical montages in check this might be okay.

[Perkins Cobb]

Well, Joel Murray was a riot on Mad Men ... is that any better?

[flyonthewall2983]

He looks so creepy in the stills.

[Professor Wagstaff]

Trailer

[domino harvey]

Still looks like this could go either way

[Zinoviev]

The trailer looks good to me. At best it should be a suitably dyspeptic take on how we live now. But the 'quirky, indie' music at 1:23ff gives me some pause.

[colinr0380]

It looks interesting - a little like Super without the superhero element. Though (and I'm realising how awful this sounds as I'm typing!) the gun violence looks like it has the potential to become a little repetitive, with a John Waters-style focus on different groups of stereotypically horrible media celebrities being targeted for vengeance.

And I'd like to think that last moment in the trailer is a homage to that scene in Fried Green Tomatoes!

[mfunk9786]

Wonderful trailer, in my opinion. I mean, if anyone's going to pull this sort of thing off without flinching or backing down, it's Goldthwait

[mfunk9786]

Well, I'm happy to report that this film gets a lot more right than it gets wrong. It meanders and moves along slowly, sure - but Goldthwait is so goddamn good at getting his parodies pitch perfect (in less capable hands, much like with World's Greatest Dad, this would be the ultimate cringe-fest) that the first act of the film (and any time the characters have the television on) feels more like documentary than spoof. The film as a whole is a bit more of a softball than I was expecting (all the big setpieces are in the trailer), but the performances of Joel Murray and Tara Lynne Barr (who is a dead ringer for a young Christina Ricci with every ounce of the raw talent) are worth your time. There are more moments of insight and fantastical wish fulfillment in this film than in most. If it was just a two minute short with Murray's rant about pedophilia in the thrift clothing shop alone, I'd call God Bless America a bona-fide success - consider the other hour and a half a bonus!

[Grand Illusion]

I loved World's Greatest Dad, but this was a pretty disappointing failure for me. It's so didactic as to drain most of the energy out of the satire. At the beginning, the lead character has a conversation about society with his co-worker that nearly put me to sleep, despite agreeing with most of his points.

The deck is extremely stacked against anyone that the protagonists run up against. Everyone, from political blowhards to the guy who parks in two spots, is not only an offender of some societal problem that Goldthwait pinpoints, but they are also extremely abrasive and obnoxious when confronted. Not only is every "villain" begging to be killed, but so many of the targets are so easy. The film American Dreamz was more risky in its takedown of reality competitions than this film is six years later.

If the targets are all-evil, the two protagonists, who are nearly clones, are saints. The film loses bite when it lacks any sort of self-criticism that a film like Falling Down examined. There are many avenues into these characters' lives with which to show flaws, but Goldthwait is entirely unironic blasting a song "I'm not like everyone else" over his avenging angels. More intellectually dishonest, Goldthwait's repeated "This guy is not a pedophile!" signifiers lead to nothing dramatically and exist solely to preempt any charges of creepiness against our hero.

As said, a huge problem is the narrative thrust. The film is a genius premise turned into a one-note joke. The two leads are identical despite coming from completely different backgrounds (why does the young girl love Alice Cooper?), and their characters go nowhere. Any conflict between them is short-lived and solved immediately. Any chance of character development is given up in lieu of speechifying about the ills of society, which they naturally agree on every point. And even though I did too, it had all the interest and dramatic energy of a sermon.

[mfunk9786]

There is definitely a contingency of Alice Cooper loving high school girls, don't ask

[Grand Illusion]

I'll... um... take your word for it.

[Brian C]

The film is a genius premise turned into a one-note joke.

That's interesting, because to me it looks like a one-note joke of a premise - "all this stuff annoys me and it'd be funny to literalize my violent fantasies of vengeance."

But anyway, do the protagonists ever shoot anyone who takes flash photos of animals in zoos? 'Cause I might be persuaded to give the film a shot if it does.

[knives]

Is it just mean or doesn't this sound like a less complex Super?

[mfunk9786]

It looks interesting - a little like Super without the superhero element. Though (and I'm realising how awful this sounds as I'm typing!) the gun violence looks like it has the potential to become a little repetitive, with a John Waters-style focus on different groups of stereotypically horrible media celebrities being targeted for vengeance.

And I'd like to think that last moment in the trailer is a homage to that scene in Fried Green Tomatoes!

[Grand Illusion]

The film is a genius premise turned into a one-note joke.

That's interesting, because to me it looks like a one-note joke of a premise - "all this stuff annoys me and it'd be funny to literalize my violent fantasies of vengeance."

Well, the film seems to affirm your suspicions, so there's not much I can argue with. Watching it though, I can see several ways Goldthwait could've gone with it, but didn't.

[oldsheperd]

I loved World's Greatest Dad, but this was a pretty disappointing failure for me. It's so didactic as to drain most of the energy out of the satire. At the beginning, the lead character has a conversation about society with his co-worker that nearly put me to sleep, despite agreeing with most of his points.

The deck is extremely stacked against anyone that the protagonists run up against. Everyone, from political blowhards to the guy who parks in two spots, is not only an offender of some societal problem that Goldthwait pinpoints, but they are also extremely abrasive and obnoxious when confronted. Not only is every "villain" begging to be killed, but so many of the targets are so easy. The film American Dreamz was more risky in its takedown of reality competitions than this film is six years later.

If the targets are all-evil, the two protagonists, who are nearly clones, are saints. The film loses bite when it lacks any sort of self-criticism that a film like Falling Down examined. There are many avenues into these characters' lives with which to show flaws, but Goldthwait is entirely unironic blasting a song "I'm not like everyone else" over his avenging angels. More intellectually dishonest, Goldthwait's repeated "This guy is not a pedophile!" signifiers lead to nothing dramatically and exist solely to preempt any charges of creepiness against our hero.

As said, a huge problem is the narrative thrust. The film is a genius premise turned into a one-note joke. The two leads are identical despite coming from completely different backgrounds (why does the young girl love Alice Cooper?), and their characters go nowhere. Any conflict between them is short-lived and solved immediately. Any chance of character development is given up in lieu of speechifying about the ills of society, which they naturally agree on every point. And even though I did too, it had all the interest and dramatic energy of a sermon.

There's a lot of criticism in the movie of the two protagonists. You need to look harder.
Plus it has a totally bleak ending. I thought it was excellent.

[Grand Illusion]

There's a lot of criticism in the movie of the two protagonists. You need to look harder.

I don't think it's fair to demand I "look harder," when you've offered no such analysis yourself.

[oldsheperd]

There's a lot of criticism in the movie of the two protagonists. You need to look harder.

I don't think it's fair to demand I "look harder," when you've offered no such analysis yourself.

You're right. I just think that the main characters are really misguided in that they want to cure the headache by cutting off the head. They also become what Joel Murray's character initially despised. Not to mention there are subtle nods to other infamous killers like Charles Whitman and Lee Harvey Oswald. I think this film is a lot like Death of a President in that the message of the film is subtle.