Joel Murray has been in show business for more than two decades, but he’s blessed/cursed with an Everyman countenance that often makes people mistake him for their dad’s dentist or accountant, or that across-the-street neighbor from your first house. In Bobcat Goldthwait’s new social satire God Bless America, his first lead role, Murray plays Frank, an overwhelmed and irritated middle-aged office drone who, having been diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor, finally cuts loose, starts speaking his mind, and much more. After he meets up with Roxy (Tara Lynne Barr), a teenage girl more demented than him, the pair goes on a killing spree, taking out myriad targets representative of America’s cultural rot. I recently had a chance to speak to Murray one-on-one, about his breakthrough role, working with Goldthwait, his disdain for reality television, and the acting advice he didn’t receive from his older brother Bill. The conversation is excerpted over at ShockYa, so click here for the read.
Daily Archives: May 12, 2012
What To Expect When You’re Expecting

A number of winning performances help keep nominally afloat ensemble baby-bump dramedy What To Expect When You’re Expecting, a colorful crowd-pleaser that is facile but about an inch deep with respect to honest relationship complications. Adapted liberally from Heidi Murkoff’s 1984 book of the same name, which peddled anecdotal and peer-driven information for soon-to-be parents, this confection works mainly as a piecemeal showcase for the talents of its cast, including Anna Kendrick (above left), Elizabeth Banks and Rebel Wilson. For the full, original review, from Screen International, click here. (Lionsgate, PG-13, 110 minutes)