God Bless America (2012)

A mid-life rebellion against…everything. “Why have a civilisation if we’re no longer interested in being civilised?”. This is the question posed by middle-aged Frank, and thus the message behind Bobcat Goldthwait’s black comedy about one man’s enraged retaliation against America’s pop culture. Played by Joel Murray, Frank sees his life fall apart piece by piece, after being fired from his job and finding out he may have a terminal brain tumor. He finds no solace at home, with a distant ex-wife, a spoilt and uncaring daughter, and neighbours-from-hell, the last of whom Frank daydreams about shooting with a shotgun! With nothing left to live for, Frank attempts suicide, only to be halted during a particularly obnoxious television show, in which a spoilt child berates her parents for buying her the wrong car for her birthday. This gives our downtrodden hero-to-be a revelation; instead of offing himself, he will turn his gun on all the worst culprits of American society, starting with the awful girl on TV. During Frank’s first “assassination attempt”, he befriends an unlikely accomplice, in teenage Roxy (Tara Lynne Barr), a foul-mouthed loner who seems to hate everything Frank hates. The two team up, and go on a cross-country rampage taking out the trash wherever the opportunity arises. Similar in ilk to other mid-life crisis films like American Beauty (1999), or Falling Down (1993), where a man reacts wildly to the culture around him, with violent repercussions, and focusing on a central character at the end of his tether. Some of the film’s sequences draw upon a popular notion of fantasy, where day-dreaming about taking revenge upon the everyday annoyances of life can become a habitual pleasure, like imagining killing the guy on his phone in the cinema, or shooting your noisy neighbours. Unlike the aforementioned films, God Bless America follows a less character driven journey, and becomes more a bleak critique on the shallowest, dumbest facets of modern life such as reality television, and insufferable social commentators. Where the film gathers strength is its damning condemnation of the modern way of thinking, the entertainment value society seems to find in humiliating the weak, and destroying the alienated. Frank’s belief is that these are the signs of a failing civilisation. Now, this may all seem like doom and gloom, but the film carries an mostly humorous edge, tackling the action and script with witty techniques that is similar in style to a film like Kick Ass (2010). The relationship between Frank and Roxy, whilst mildly inappropriate, provides an enjoyable road-trip camaraderie, which keeps the film from falling into dangerously preachy waters. Imagination and creativity flow superbly, with some brilliant sequences where scum get their comeuppance - in particular in the opening scene where a crying baby is shot at point blank range (I know it sounds horrific, but it is an amazing scene, and you will probably side with Frank). The film loses its way a little towards the middle section, seemingly moving without any kind of direction, until the guts and glory ending which is a smorgasbord of gunning down. Ultimately, a film that serves as a therapeutic cure to a stressful day, and one that thoroughly entertains and keeps you laughing.