God Bless America

Everyone has pet peeves and puts up with irritating people, but in his latest film comedian-turned-moviemaker Bobcat Goldthwait literally takes aim at his. Goldthwait's surrogate is Frank (Joel Murray), a low-key guy who fantasizes about killing his noisy neighbors and waxes eloquent about his distaste for the incivility of modern society and the casual cruelty evident in today's entertainment. After Frank is diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor and abruptly fired on bogus charges of sexual harassment, he decides to off the obnoxious teen star of a reality TV show and her parents. The murders attract a fan—wild-eyed teen Roxy (Tara Lynne Barr)—who becomes Bonnie to Frank's Clyde as the pair go on to kill other undesirables (a Bill O'Reilly-style right-wing pundit and a pedophile) while serving up long, rambling diatribes. Eventually, the two launch a bloody assault on an American Idol-like TV show—targeting both those responsible for putting such stuff on the air and the contestants who allow themselves to be humiliated for their 15 minutes of fame. God Bless America is a sporadically amusing rant, but it does grow repetitive, and digressions dealing with Frank's ex-wife and his annoying daughter fall flat. A scattershot comedy in both senses, this is an optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Bobcat Goldthwait and costars Joel Murray and Tara Lynne Barr, a “Killing with Kindness” behind-the-scenes featurette (28 min.), an interview with Goldthwait, Murray, and Barr (28 min.), deleted and extended scenes (5 min.), an HDNet-produced featurette (5 min.), outtakes (3 min.), a montage (3 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is the BD-Live function. Bottom line: a fine extras package for an uneven film.] (F. Swietek)