God Bless America

A gentle man is tired of how rude and crude American has become. When Frank (Joel Murray) is told he has a tumor, he decides to take a last stand against those crude Americans, such as reality show stars, people who cell/text during movies, trash talk show hosts, etc. and goes on a cross country road trip with his gun. Along the way he finds he has a hanger-on, the teen Roxy (Tara Lynne Barr) who shares his attitude. At first they kill one person here and there who have personally offended Frank, but soon it becomes scapegoating rude people they see in the news.  Frank's moral "standards" become more lax and he finds it easier to kill others for offenses to society. It seems everyone's behavior can have some facet that Frank and especially Roxy finds objectionable. Although Frank still comes off as a nice guy and often admonishes Roxy on not going too far, the duo become seen in the media as Bonnie and Clyde types.


While I agree with the sentiment that people have lost their sense of civility and think they are privileged to act as they please, the story was pretty much hitting you over the head with these stereotypes of characters that unfortunately are all too real in our daily lives. Almost all characters other than Frank are loudly personifying exactly what they are meant to. I think the film is helped strongly by Murray as he is a very affable guy and actor, although soon the standards of his character are blurred and so his stance is less convincing. He too becomes the type of person he is fighting against, finding it easier to do as he pleases instead of making an effort to change people's behavior (although in this film that is seen as impossible).

Barr is more grating as a character and borders on annoying for me. Her apparent sob story that comes late in the movie did not make me like her any more. While she becomes an apprentice and sees Murray as a mentor and confidante at times, I don't find that the reverse relationship is realistic. The film was written and directed by Bob Goldthwait.