GOD BLESS AMERICA

Bobcat Goldthwait (writer and director) delivers a dark comedy where the worst culprits of American pop culture are popped off, one at a time. Terminally ill down-and-outer Frank (Joel Murray) finds unlikely simpatico with 16-year-old Roxy (Tara Lynne Barr), who becomes accomplice to his new raison d’être. Together they cross the country in their stolen Kill Bill-esque yellow sportscar, weeding out the cruel, bigoted, insipid, stupid et al with their killing spree.

The dialogue is poignant, perverse and witty. Murray’s anti-hero balances the right notes of cynical, earnest and vulnerable, and Barr’s subversion of the keen teen also has its soft spots, ensuring the film doesn’t become a monotonal and insufferable diatribe. A scathingly funny film. (CA) ***