God Bless America (film)
| God Bless America | |
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Promotional poster
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| Directed by | Bobcat Goldthwait |
| Produced by | Jeff Culotta |
| Written by | Bobcat Goldthwait |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Matt Kollar |
| Cinematography | Bradley Stonesifer |
| Edited by | Jason Stewart |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Magnolia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $123,000 |
God Bless America is a 2011 American black comedy film that combines elements of political satire with dark humor. The film is written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, and stars Joel Murray and Tara Lynne Barr.
Frank Murdoch (Joel Murray) is a middle-aged insurance salesman living in Syracuse, New York, who is sick with how the United States has fallen into a state of rudeness based on pop culture, talk radio, television, and internet influences. After a boring evening of watching television, Frank visualizes killing his loud and inconsiderate neighbors, whose baby's screams exacerbate his chronic migraine headaches and rob him of sleep. His ex-wife Alison (Melinda Page Hamilton) has custody of their daughter Ava (Mackenzie Brooke Smith), who has become a typical spoiled brat. Matters come to a head when he is fired after 11 years' service at the insurance company for obtaining a female co-worker's address without authority merely so as to innocently send her roses to lift her spirits; then told by his profane and disinterested doctor that he has an inoperable, terminal brain tumor.
Frank prepares to commit suicide but stops as his TV features a reality show starring Chloe (Maddie Hasson), an extremely spoiled teenager, and has an epiphany. The next day, he steals his noisy neighbor's car and drives to Chloe's school and, after unsuccessfully attempting to blow her up in her car, he shoots her at point-blank range. One of Chloe's classmates, Roxanne "Roxy" Harmon (Tara Lynne Barr), witnesses this and applauds him. Roxy follows Frank back to his motel where he is once again preparing to commit suicide; initially egging him on, Roxy then talks him out of it. Frank explains to Roxy that he only wants bad people to die – people who have committed blatant acts of cruelty and stupidity against their fellow man. Roxy suggests they kill Chloe's parents and he agrees. Frank shoots Chloe's father (Larry Miller), and after a brief chase, Roxy stabs her mother (Dorie Barton). Roxy convinces Frank to take her along by painting herself the tragic victim of her drug-addicted mother and rapist step-father. They then decide to go on the lam, continuing their killing spree. They visit a movie theatre to watch a documentary about the 1968 My Lai Massacre. During the film, several teenagers enter the nearly empty theatre and immediately act obnoxiously, talking aloud and on their cell phones. One of them throws popcorn at Frank. Frank and Roxy shoot and kill all but the least aggravating of them who Frank thanks for not being rude. Subsequently, they kill several others, including a rude man who double-parks his car, several extremist religious right protesters, and Michael Fuller (Regan Burns), a popular, abrasive conservative political television commentator.
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