Warning: if you think "American Idol" is, like, totally the best thing in American music today, that far-right talk-show host Glenn Beck is a prophet and that "Jersey Shore" is about the most fabulicious people evah, the following movie is not, repeat not, for you.
If, however, the mere sight of Simon Cowell or The Beckster makes you want to kick in your TV like Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver," then "God Bless America" is your kind of film. Comedian-turned-director Bobcat Goldthwait ("Sleeping Dogs Lie") riffs on much the same material as "Taxi Driver" here — weird middle-aged loner snaps and goes postal — but with a lot more laughs, although frequently of the sick and twisted kind.
"God Bless America" is clearly film as therapy, the kind of movie you make to stay out of jail; acting out on such antisocial impulses in any other way would result in someone dialing 911. Goldthwait looks at modern America's cultural cesspool — singing competitions where clueless "retards" are relentlessly mocked, crude reality shows that encourage the worst behavior, celebrities famous for their sex-tape escapades, political talk shows spewing hate and intolerance — and despairs. He imagines the real rain that will come and wash the scum off the streets.