God Bless America

Director: Bobcat Goldthwait Bobcat Goldthwait

Overview

Writer/director Bobcat Goldthwait skewers everything that's wrong with contemporary American culture in this firebomb satire about a disillusioned middle-aged man who embarks on a violent crime spree with a cynical teenage girl. Fed up with his selfish neighbors, fired from his soul-sucking job, and depressed at the infrequency of visits with his bratty young daughter, 45-year-old divorc? Frank (Joel Murray) prepares to end it all after being diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor. Just as Frank is about to pull the trigger, however, he has a sudden flash of inspiration: Before he takes his own life, he'll do the world a big favor and permanently silence the loudmouthed teenage star of a popular reality-television show. After witnessing the clumsy execution firsthand, high-school misfit Roxy (Tara Lynne Barr) convinces Frank to continue his bloody mission of cultural cleansing with her as his sidekick. In no time, Frank and Roxy are leaving a trail of bodies in their wake, and making headlines across the country. But all good things must come to an end, and when their partnership hits an unexpected hitch, Frank draws up plans to go out with a final bang.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/03/2012
UPC:	0876964004718
Original Release:	2011
Rating:	R
Source:	Magnolia Home Ent
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:45:00
Sales rank:	40,614

Special Features

Closed Caption; Behind the Scenes: Killing with Kindness; God Bless TV: Deleted/Extended Scenes; Outtakes; Interviews with Bobcat Goldthwait, Joel Murray and Tara Lynne Barr; HDNet: A Look at God Bless America; Roxy and Frank Music Video; Commentary with Bobcat Goldthwait, Joel Murray and Tara Lynne Barr; Theatrical Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Tara Lynne Barr	Roxy
Joel Murray	Frank
Larry Miller	Chloe's Dad
Geoff Pierson	Frank's Boss
Melinda Page Hamilton	Alison,Dancer
Mackenzie Brooke Smith	Ava
Rich McDonald	Brad
Maddie Hasson	Chloe
Dorie Barton	Chloe's Mom
Travis Wester	Ed
Lauren Phillips	Ed's Wife,Actor
Guerrin Gardner	Tampon Throwing Tuff Girl
Kellie Marie Ramdhanie	Melissa, Tuff Girl
Aris Alvarado	Steven Clark
Sandra Vergara	American Superstarz Host
Jamie Harris	American Superstarz Host
Alexie Gilmore	Morning Show Host
James McAndrew	Morning Show Host
Brendalyn Richard	Karen
Tom Kenny	Office Staff
Eliza Coyle	Office Staff
Jill Talley	Office Staff
Joe Liss	Office Staff
Bryce Johnson	Co-Worker
Cameron Denny	Office Worker
Scott Zeller	Ronald
Danny Geter	Mutual of Onodaga Security Guard
Dan Spencer	Doctor
Leslie Noble	Medical Building Woman
Regan Burns	Michael Fuller
Bruce Nozick	TMI Host
Orson Oblowitz	TMI Flunky
Frank Conniff	Stan Kurtz
Tom Lenk	Party Planner #1
Jack Plotnick	Party Planner #2
Gilland Jones	Girl Who Gets Shot in Movie Theater
Naomi Glick	Girl Who Doesn't Get Shot in Movie Theater
Jacob DeMonte-Finn	Boy Who Gets Shot in Movie Theater #1
Carson Aune	Boy Who Gets Shot in Movie Theater #2
Toby Huss	Man With Cell Phone Who Gets Shot
Iris Almario	Sophia Milo
Tony V	Pancake Eating Pedophile
Mo Gaffney	Singing Waitress
Andrea Squibb "Harper"	Roxy's Mother
David Mendenhall	Roxy's Father
Steve Agee	American Superstarz Crew Member
Christopher Doyle	America Superstarz Security Guard Who Gets Shot
Kirk Bovill	Police Captain
Michael Carbonaro	Robbie Barkley
Philip Anthony Traylor	American Superstarz Backdoor Security Guard
Paul Eliopoulos	Reverend Goran
Mike Tristano	Shady Gun Dealer
Lon Gowan	Audience Member Who Runs and Doesn't Get Shot
Daniel Everson	Audience Member Who Runs and Gets Shot
Samantha Droke	Chloe's BFF
James Rustin	Chloe's BFF
Nathan Kim	Dancer
Zuzana Humplova	Dancer
Suzanne "Suze Q" Pirnat	Dancer
Brad Rowe	Angry Protestor
Nate Scholz	Paparazzi
Romeo Brown	American Superstarz Host
Morgan Murphy	Fast Food Employee
Christopher Nelson	Trooper
Matt Kollar	Composer

Technical Credits

Bobcat Goldthwait

Bobcat Goldthwait	Director,Screenwriter
Sean McKittrick	Producer
Jeff Culotta	Producer
Sarah de Sa Rego	Producer
Ted Hamm	Executive Producer
Robert C. Jackson	Sound/Sound Designer
Jenn Rose	Makeup Special Effects
Christopher Nelson	Makeup Special Effects
Robert Kato DeStefan	Makeup Special Effects
Peewee Piedmont	Stunts
Andra Hayes	Script Supervisor
Edward Hamm Jr.	Executive Producer
Robert McGee	Casting
Ruth Lambert	Casting
Bill Donnelly	Sound Mixer
Arran Murphy	Sound Mixer
Adam Douglass	Sound Mixer
Ernest Sanders	Sound Mixer

Editorial Reviews

What's the formula for a great film? Can it be determined by dividing the number of minutes a movie holds us enthralled by the amount of time we spend waiting for something interesting to happen? Perhaps it's measured in the efficiency of the screenplay multiplied by the competence of the filmmakers. Whatever formula you choose to use, odds are Bobcat Goldthwait's God Bless America wouldn't meet the criteria of a "great" film; the direction is a little rough around the edges, the performances occasionally border on amateurish, and, much like a Kevin Smith film, all of the characters speak in a single voice. Incredibly, Goldthwait manages to use these perceived shortcomings to his advantage in his fifth feature directorial outing -- a caustic, firebomb satire that may not be the comedy America wants, but is almost certainly the one America deserves. Fed up with his selfish neighbors, fired from his soul-sucking job, and depressed at the infrequency of visits with his bratty young daughter, 45-year-old divorcé Frank (Joel Murray) prepares to end it all after being diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor. Just as Frank is about to pull the trigger, however, he has a sudden flash of inspiration: Before he takes his own life, he'll do the world a big favor and permanently silence the loudmouthed teenage star of a popular reality-television show. After witnessing the clumsy execution firsthand, high-school misfit Roxy (Tara Lynne Barr) convinces Frank to continue his bloody mission of cultural cleansing with her as his sidekick. In no time, Frank and Roxy are leaving a trail of bodies in their wake, and making headlines across the country. But all good things must come to an end, and when their partnership hits an unexpected hitch, Frank draws up plans to go out with a final bang. Technically unpolished and populated with actors who resemble people you might see at the grocery store rather than moonlighting models, God Bless America is the cinematic equivalent of a Black Flag album -- reckless, dangerous, and positively fearless in its quest to rip contemporary society up by the roots. Brilliantly played by longtime character actor Joel Murray (who also appeared briefly as a policeman in the 2011 Oscar favorite The Artist), Frank is a reluctant pop-culture assassin who's been pushed too far by the growing void of inanity, narcissism, and entitlement that's gradually eroding America thanks to a steady diet of reality television, and a paralyzing fear of inconvenience. Battered yet soulful, he's the perfect mouthpiece for Goldthwait's defiantly transgressive screenplay. As his all-too-eager teenage sidekick Roxy, Barr occasionally overplays the precocious hand, but thankfully it doesn't detract from the interactions between the characters -- a central element to the film's success as it highlights the fact that Frank's 21st century malaise stems more from his sensitivity and deep-rooted compassion rather than a generational disconnect. And while subtlety is hardly the point here, Goldthwait does fill God Bless America with lots of nice little stylistic flourishes (such as a shot of Frank listening to his entitled daughter's tantrum on the phone while images of a bratty reality-TV star play on a background television) that reveal just how much he's evolving as a filmmaker. Meanwhile, during the same summer that Alice Cooper is being used as the butt of jokes in Tim Burton's Dark Shadows, Goldthwait makes poignant use of the legendary rocker's "Hello Hooray" and "I Never Cry" in two of the film's central sequences -- opting for earnestness over irony in a time when the former is in precious short supply. With all due respect to Goldthwait, God Bless America feels like the kind of film the late, great Bill Hicks may have made were he still around today -- a thorny comedy that isn't so much laugh-out-loud hilarious as it is profanely enlightening -- and the fact that some of the satire is virtually indistinguishable from the product it is parodying makes the movie something of a bitter pill. Once we realize that the funhouse mirror on the big screen is actually just a plain-old looking glass reflecting our own distorted values, it's obvious that while God Bless America may not meet everyone's criteria of being a "great" film, it most certainly qualifies as great art if for no other reason than it's likely to yield some intelligent, reflective, and perhaps heated discussions during the ride home. Maybe once we start talking, we'll be more likely to realize that something has gone horribly wrong.