God Bless America (2011)

On a mission to rid society of its most repellent citizens, terminally ill Frank makes an unlikely accomplice in 16-year-old Roxy.

Director:

Bobcat Goldthwait

Writer:

Bobcat Goldthwait

Stars:

Joel Murray, Tara Lynne Barr, Mackenzie Brooke Smith

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joel Murray	...	Frank
Tara Lynne Barr	...	Roxy
Melinda Page Hamilton	...	Alison
Mackenzie Brooke Smith	...	Ava
Rich McDonald	...	Brad
Maddie Hasson	...	Chloe
Larry Miller	...	Chloe's Dad
Dorie Barton	...	Chloe's Mom
Travis Wester	...	Ed
Lauren Benz Phillips	...	Donna (as Lauren Phillips)
Guerrin Gardner	...	Tampon-Throwing Tuff Gurl
Kellie Ramdhanie	...	Melissa Tuff Gurl (as Kellie Marie Ramdhanie)
Aris Alvarado	...	Steven Clark
Romeo Brown	...	John Tyler
Sandra Vergara	...	American Superstarz Judge

Storyline

Loveless, jobless, possibly terminally ill, Frank has had enough of the downward spiral of America. With nothing left to lose, Frank takes his gun and offs the stupidest, cruelest, and most repellent members of society. He finds an unusual accomplice: 16-year-old Roxy, who shares his sense of rage and disenfranchisement.

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Plot Keywords:

blackberry cell phone | long feminine hair cut | slender attractive girl | anti materialism | killing spree | 

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Taglines:

Taking out the trash, one jerk at a time.

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and language including some sexual sequences

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 May 2012 (Russia)

Also Known As:

Armados y cabreados

Filming Locations:

The Fonda Theater - 6126 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$27,308, 13 May 2012

Gross USA:

$122,550

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$393,880

Company Credits

Production Co:

Darko Entertainment, Jerkschool Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bobcat Goldthwait and Joel Murray worked together previously in One Crazy Summer (1985)

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Goofs

In the opening scene where Frank breaks into the neighbor's apartment to kill them, when he shoots the boyfriend and reloads the shotgun, it's a right side ejection port. When he reloads to shoot the baby, the image is reversed and it's a left side ejection port.

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Quotes

Roxy: No, I don't high five.
Frank: Mental high five?
Roxy: Yeah, mental high five.

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Crazy Credits

The character that tries to buy Roxy at the diner is listed as "The Pancake Eating Pedophile".

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Connections

Referenced in MoreHorror in Hollywood: Bobcat Goldthwait of GOD BLESS AMERICA (2012)

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Soundtracks

Brahm's Lullaby (Cradle Song)
Written by Johannes Brahms
Performed by Aram Mandossian

User Reviews

An Answer to Stone's Natural Born Killers

What a great movie. It's rather as if Goldthwait has made an answer to Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers by way of Mike Judge's Office Space. Through the eyes of Joel Murray's Frank, we see a variety of society's ills and thankfully, Goldthwait doesn't dwell on them. To do so would be like gawking at the stupidity when you walk into a Walmart; it's just going to make you dwell longer at the stupidity on display, and you are still in a Walmart.

Instead, we get one of those movies that you either are along with or you aren't, you get or you don't. If you get it, you wish that Frank had a few more monologues, if you don't, you'd think it was advocating random shooting sprees.

Thankfully the script and Murray's brilliant portrayal of Frank has him as a principled, moral character who has his suicide interrupted by one terrible reality TV show too many. Along the way he teams up with a psychotic schoolgirl. He's rebelling violently about what society has become, she's rebelling against what society is.

It isn't a huge film, without a large budget, but well made. I felt that it worked best compared to Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers, which showed spree killers as celebrities. In God Bless America the characters lament that they haven't even made the news. But in the end, Stone's film glories this shallow quest for fame while Goldthwait's film answers it, showing what happens to America when everyone is unkindly reaching for it.