It is no secret that we live in an ever-increasingly mediocre and superficial world. While this lack of originality, intelligence, open mindness and good common sense is devoid in a large portion of our society, things seemed to be even worse in the U.S. They, unlike the rest of the world, salivate and praise mediocrity to such an extent that if any alien race came and saw them the aliens wouldn’t even bothered killing them. Such stupidity isn’t even worth the sweat. I hear you though, not all Americans are like that but you have to admit that most of them are. That stupidity is the issue at the centre of God Bless America, a film that finally puts into action what us sane people think about almost every day.

Frank (Joel Murray) is a divorced middle aged father living out his life bombarded by the overly idiotic media wave. He suffers from excruciating migraines and insomnia that are enhanced by his neighbours’ crying abomination of a baby and their blatant ignorance. Just like every average American with nothing to do, he watches trash TV and hates himself for it. However, one day he is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer which changes things completely. Frank decides to teach the so called beloved scum of the media a lesson in humility and humanity, so with the help of Roxy (Tara Lynne Barr) they go on a killing spree that sees them kill stars of singing competition and people involved in MTV’s My Sweet 16.

I am proud to say that I am actually part of a group of people who does not watch nor enjoys reality shows, like Jersey Shore, My Sweet 16 and whatever other bullshit trash MTV cooks up. I know of them like everyone else, but I don’t watch them as they make me depressed about humanity and I feel like a part of me dies every second that I see that shit. Fortunately, a lot of people feel the same way and this film addresses such sentiments. The really sad thing about God Bless America is that it’s portrayal of the media’s fascination with trash isn’t at all over-sensetionalized. It all feels so true and accurate that you begin to question why the hell did it take Frank so long to shoot the brains out of a girl from My Sweet 16.

It may not be a popular or appropriate thing to say out loud, but we’ve all thought of killing people like that. People who are so fucking demanding and inconsiderate, people who don’t know respect, have never heard of the word humility and are 100% self-abosberd assholes. People whose ignorance is so overpowering that it could easily destroy nations, which is pretty much the case with Americans. God Bless America doesn’t tackle all the filth but shoots at the main ones, one of them being the Tea Party. While all these is going on, the film also manages to give us a tender yet odd buddy story that feels sincere and relatable. Both main actors are effective in their respective roles, although Barr’s voice gets a bit whiny from time to time.

The only real problem with God Bless America is that it does come of a bit too preachy. It is trying really hard to shove its message down your throat, which can be somewhat overbearing. Moreover, after a while things get a bit dull as you feel the character are basically reciting the same record player over and over again. But since the message is both an admirable and important one, you’ll find yourself agreeing with it. What they say is true, the state of the media is on a downward spiral accepting more and more the notion that you don’t need talent, manners and even the slight ounce of respect to become someone praised and adored all over.

God Bless America is an effective film with an important message that speaks perfectly to how things are today. It achieves one of the purposes of films, to take all of our twisted but so very appropriate fantasies and makes them into reality. Who here hasn’t wished to fucking beat the shit out of someone speaking and disturbing people in the movie theatre? God, I hate those people. God Bless America should’ve gone a bit further with its targets but for what it is, you won’t regret watching it. It’s funny when it needs to be, disturbing when necessary and injected with enough heart to carry you the distance. Not a home-run by any means, but still quite entertaining.

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In her 13th birthday, Luli (Chloe Moretz) receives a few gifts ranging from a handgun to her parents profusely battling each other. All these things are part of Luli’s life, but things get sidetracked once both her parents abandon her. Tired of being bored doing nothing, Luli decides to walk all the way to Vegas, a land that promises flashy entertaining happiness. In the road, Luli stumbles upon two individuals: Eddie (Eddie Redmayne) and Glenda (Blake Lively). While Glenda shows Luli the ropes of travelling the road as beautiful single woman, Eddie falls madly in love with Luli and entraps her into an increasingly dangerous situation.

When Kick-Ass premiered a few year ago, the person who was universally admired and praised was none other than Chloe Moretz. Her performance as Hit-Girl was without a doubt the standout of the film and poised Moretz as the new Dakota Fanning. Unfortunately, at least in this writer’s opinion, everything Moretz has done consequently has been less than stellar. Hugo was a masterpiece but her performance was utterly forgettable, the less we say about Let Me In the better and in Hick she straight up falters and burns. As a matter of fact, a large portion of why Hick is such a failure comes exclusively from Moretz performance.

First of all, she seems to be the only one in the film who struggles with the southern accent. In the beginning it’s somewhat there but as things progress it disappears all together. Moreover the charisma, excitement and sincerity we’ve seen her convey so beautiful is completely missing here. Her attempt at trying something risqué, which on paper resembles somewhat what Jodie Foster did in Taxi Driver, is just excruciatingly dull to watch. Everything about her performance feels forced, unoriginal and as a character you’re suppose to feel empathetic for all you want is for her to just shut up and stop doing things. Moretz isn’t a bad actress, but she is completely out of her depth here and she unfortunately kills everything around her.

On the opposite front, Hick does have two really strong performances courtesy of Blake Lively and Eddie Redmayne. Lively is at first unrecognizable and this is by far the best performance she has given. Every trace of her star persona is gone and what we finally get is an actress really digging deep and becoming someone else. Everything from her accent to her mannerism, Lively lights up the screen constantly and is a real joy to watch. But even better is Redmayne who totally blows it out of the park. Not only is his character the juiciest one of the bunch, but also the way he milks it for all its worth is amazing. His character is in constant flux and the more time we spend with him the more unpredictable and insane he gets. But what makes his character’s psychotic mannerism empathetic and interesting is the way he conveys them with such a high level of vulnerability and sincerity. You end up really feeling for the guy event though he just keeps screwing things up.

Supposedly Hick is meant to be a dark comedy and while the film strives to be that, you won’t laugh or even giggle once. Director Derik Martini is trying a bit too hard to make Hick into some wild card pushing film, but all he achieves to do is create an ever-increasing boring film that literally has nothing to say. Overall the film fails in almost every sense from its contradictory tones to its overly forced and illogical situations. Chloe Moretz again proves that Hit-Girl was nothing but a one-off kind of deal and seriously damages the whole film. The only really tragic thing about Hick is that two powerhouse performances by Blake Lively and Eddie Redmayne are in it; such great performances deserved a much better film.

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