Bobcat Goldthwait is the most unlikely madman director we all should have seen coming. His early stand-up was always raw, but when it came to mainstream projects, he quickly became an almost insufferable punchline in and of himself. His loud mouth buffoon voice became a symbol of 90s comedy doldrums, where Andrew Dice Clay and Pauly Shore tried to sell us on the idea that talking funny and acting dumb was enough to achieve success. How bad was it? His best non-stand up project in the 90s was voicing a horny stuffed rabbit on Unhappily Ever After.
After some time off, Bobcat resurfaced as a low-budget indie comedy director. And while his first film, Sleeping Dogs Lie, was more than a little muddled and marred by first time mistakes, there was an edge to the comedy that felt fresh and unexpected from who was saying it. And it wasn’t just shock, gross-out humor; there was some legitimate, borderline angry implications in the film’s tone. World’s Greatest Dad brought more of that darkness to the forefront, in a role that completely redeems Robin Williams for the last decade of crap he’s starred in. Again, there are some story problems, but the subversive nature of the film more than makes up for it.
His latest film, God Bless America, shows a director who has not only found his voice, he’s thrown off any shackles or pretense of having to play nice. Many films lampoon how absolutely awful our reality-crazed pop culture has become, but they almost always walk it back by playing a “yeah, but…” card in some fashion. But based on this trailer, it’s clear that Bobcat isn’t interested in humanizing the worst of humanity; he’d rather just stick an AK-47 in their mouth and be done with it. There’s a palpable rage to this trailer, an outcry and refusal to remain content with all the crap pouring through our various media.
I hope the whole film can maintain the vibe and keep it cohesive; if it does then Bobcat will have cemented his newfound status as a maverick. Because who saw that coming?
-via Badass Digest
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