Click here for the review of God Bless America

SPOILERS must be tagged with the "SPOILER" tag!

"Those who take a bleak view of things like constant cell phone connection, reality TV, and similar societal blights will applaud what this movie says. Others may wonder if Goldthwait is really a misanthrope or whether he just writes movies from that perspective.''

Maybe a little bit of both?

I hate it when somebody is speaking loudly into their phone in the quiet carriage of a train, and more so when they keep repeating something over and over... would I take a bat to their face? No, that would make me the prick

Am I missing the point maybe? I can see that if this IS the point, then kudos. This was the same issue I had with Inglorious Basterds; was Tarrantino being as tongue in cheek as his material suggested he ought to be? If not... well you get my point here right?

Fighting fire with flames will keep the world burning. Basically!

Sounds a lot like "Falling Down" or "Joe"(the 1970 Peter Boyle movie). Films like this seem to come around every ten years or so.


Doesn't it say something inadvertently positive about our progression when the geist of moral anger in today's society is focused on mostly harmless things like dumb TV shows and people being rude instead of things like, say, racism?

Based on the red-band trailer, it may reflect mine as well. I have been excited about this film since I saw that so hopefully, when I get the opportunity to check this one out, it won't disappoint.

Well I'd say they aren't harmless at all. I do agree that people should take racism more seriously (they don't, in my view) but more importantly, we should look outside the box at what's really going on. Think closely about how confidently people will express views of extreame prejudice that haven't been opposed en masse/in the eyes of the media... it paints a grim picture of how people really think.

I don't understand this section:



How is sex with a consenting 16 year old pedophilia? Or reproductively invalid or abnormal for that matter? Illegal in some states perhaps, but pedophilia has nothing to do with the situation.

Not sure if James added that comment or was reflecting the characters thoughts in the movie. Good review otherwise.

My point was that complaining about reality shows and shallow rich kids is silly. I'm not saying that there isn't room for satire there, because there obviously is, but if we're complaining about stuff like THIS over a more serious issue, I think we've made some progress. I believe that pretty much everything is fair game for satire(even as something personally horrific like war or genocide), but this flick sounds more like a bitter rant than anything. People talk about how absolutely pervasive this, uh, self absorbed culture is, but writing revenge fantasies about how much we're supposed to hate it is much more disturbing and absurd to me.

As for the point you were making(I hope), I agree that most people aren't skeptical enough of their own beliefs and prejudices. The unexamined life is definitely not worth living. I think this has always been a problem though, but now it's just out in the open because of the internet.

I liked "World's Greatest Dad" though, so I still might check this out.

I think James meant that from Frank's point of view, he see's a personal relationship with a 16 y/o as pedophilia. It's technically inaccurate, as it would be ephebophilia, but a lot of people make this mistake. Ephebophilia is much more of a gray area than pedophilia, but most people in the U.S see it as just about as immoral.

Okay I get what you mean. That's pretty much why I said I hope Goldthwait is on board with the heavy irony in what he's doing, and also likewise for Tarrentino (especially since his next movie is also a revenge wish-fulfilment). I guess it's probably easier to be apathetical about the concept of "to rid the world of pricks, you must become one" than to be called a hypocrite!

It's funny you should mention the idea of everything being fair game for satire, as I just got round to watching 'Four Lions'. It's a Chris Morris movie (he did the Brass Eye series and co wrote Nathan Barley, if that means anything?) so it's likely to offend those who don't stop to consider what MIGHT be going on, rather than just taking it all in blindly. Anyway my point is that it takes something as horrible as people attempting to organise and carry out a terror plot and somehow makes it into a pretty funny movie. Go figure

In some ways it reminds me of one of De Niro's most famous Taxi Driver quotes:



If Natural Born Killers was a warning about where the Jerry Springerization of America that was going into overdrive at the time was taking us, this one shows the inevitable results.

This is just Goldthwait blowing off some steam, I think. I don't blame him, but the premise just sounds really obvious and unfunny. I give a break to people like Tarantino and Rodriguez though. Their movies clearly take place in a fantasy world. Like for example, I found it strange that so many people were offended that Machete brought up the issue of Mexican immigrants sneaking into the U.S. I didn't feel preached at. It was just set up. At the end of the day, Machete wasn't about any realistic issues, but just a movie about a crazy guy with a machete.

No, I haven't heard of those until you mentioned them now. I looked them up, and both the movie and the show look like my type of humor. Brass Eye in particular sounds a lot like the cartoon "Monkey Dust", which I'm a big fan of. As for Four Lions, I remember watching a stand up comedian make a pitch for a sitcom about wacky terrorists several years ago, and he was immediately shot down. I thought that it had some potential to undermine terrorism to show how bonkers most suicide bombers probably are, and this sounds like it actually vindicated the idea.

Yep. And I guess Rorschach from "Watchmen" fits the paradigm too. There's just so many fun cinematic crusaders with severe mental illnesses, aren't there?


I can't speak for America, but I've personally met very few people of any age who fits the self obsessed spoiled brat mold that movies like GBA claim are everywhere. It sounds more like a trumped up moral panic to me. I'm sure it exists, but they are only symptoms of larger problems.

JAMES!!!!

Did you seriously just reference Joe vs the Volcano??!!

Thank GOODNESS for Mr Berardinelli!

I agree, I think people greatly exaggerate about how "self-aborbed" we are, i'm not a big fan of reality shows either, which is why I don't watch them, it's that simple, if you don't like reality shows, don't watch them! If you don't want your personal life on display, don't get a Facebook account.

Judging by the trailer, I think I need to see this movie. It looks like the feel-good movie of the summer.

Frank's words. When she asks if he thinks she's pretty, his argument for answering is that he's not a pedophile.

There's a scene in GOD BLESS AMERICA where I was just waiting for the doctor to tell Frank he has a "brain cloud."

Indeed, this film sounds like a cynic's wet dream.

The media is busy sexualizing teens and society is obsessed to the point of neuroticism with every aspect of teenage culture. We cannot get our fill of movies and shows about high school, many with hypersexual characters. Then we turn around and are shocked at the idea that men could find certain biologically mature 16 year olds attractive instead of some magical switch being thrown at 18.