God Bless America
Dir: Bobcat Goldthwait
2011
*****
I feel like Frank most days (without the killing part). A film like this, IE; a film that has a person kill another for not being very nice is always going to be flawed in a way due to the contradiction of the action. Surely it's better to have a reason though, Bonnie and Clyde is a great film and is commonly regarded as an American classic but I would argue that it depicts a darker set of individuals or is at least the the worse of two evils. It is of course dripping in satire, not just as a reaction to modern culture (if you can call it culture) but also to films and television being made today, the unhealthy beliefs of self importance and the 'rights' people think they're entitled too. It's shocking, it's also quite wrong in many ways, making it a well balanced and pure satire. The script is brilliant, it smashes old cliches to pieces and gives a very decent twist to the usual ' Bonnie and Clyde' style of film. The acting is also very good but what works the best is the way that all the things that are depicted in this film are not exaggerated - television really is this bad today and people are this moronic. This film is destined to be either loved or misunderstood but then if everyone loved it it wouldn't exist would it. Bobcat Goldthwait is a brilliant writer and director and is without doubt one of the most interesting film makers working in America today, certain one of the best satirists the country has ever seen and long may he reign. I like to think that God Bless America and Idiocracy are linked, God Bless America taking place while Luke Wilson's Corporal Joe Bauers is in hibernation.