Reviews of Raising Arizona
Displaying all 3 reviews
Jesse Taylor
21Aug11
It may be silly, but it’s the best kind of silly out there: It’s silly, Coen Brothers style! This madcap adventure deals with a couple, H.I./Hi (Cage) and Ed (Hunter) McDunnough, a pair of daft Southerners. They find out they can’t have children of their own and after hearing about a local birth of quintuplets, decide to steal one. It ends up turning into a zany chase film involving a pair of fugitives, a burly bounty hunter and a grocery store diaper raid, the latter being one of the funniest film scenes I have ever watched. “Raising Arizona” features a great cast, some of which became Coen regulars [Goodman, McDormand, Keith, Walsh]. The highlight performance for me, however, is Holly Hunter’s. The scene when they steal the baby and Hunter breaks down exclaiming ‘I love him so much!" is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. She’s absolutely hysterical and pitch perfect as Ed. The Coen Brothers wrote the part specifically for her, so I’m not surprised she knocked it out of the park. This film is the Coens’ first comedy picture and boy, did they ever succeed. It’s insanely original, wildly hilarious and a must-see. (B+)
- Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
Conner Rainwater
12Jun10
There’s really nothing bad you can say about it, this is about as flawless as comedies get. Combined with a unique story, characters and vision; there are very few comedies that hold such legitimate weight. Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter are so perfect together, making all of the humor come incredibly natural and fun. Trailer Trash rarely ever gets as much respect or effort put into it, Joel Coen should be praised for making them look as good as they do. Even though it wasn’t necessary, this has a great visual style and makes it more than just a typical romantic comedy.
- Currently 5.0/5 Stars.
Todd Kushigemachi
25May09
(Originally written August 29, 2007)
There is a point when I was watching this film that I wanted to throw something at the screen. The introduction to the film is rushed, overlong, and uninteresting. It works merely as an exposition, not as something interesting to watch. It fails to appropriately develop the characters, and it is mostly unmemorable. One thing that makes this film so hard to like is the fact that all of the characters are absolutely obnoxious and unlikable for the good majority of the film. They are bad people, have little regard for anything including themselves, and they come across as subhuman. Nicholas Cage’s H.I. McDonnough is pathetic, and there is no ability for the audience to actually feel sorry for what’s happening to him. There is no development of warmth between H.I. and Ed, played by Holly Hunter, so it is difficult to develop an interest in the troubles of their marriage if the marriage itself is something unworthy of interest. It would also be appropriate to mention the fact that this film is a comedy and is not particularly funny. The Coen brothers are known for their unique sense of humor, but they become so wrapped up in their eccentricities that this film becomes distant and unfunny. They are bizarre for the sake of bizarre, and that, in and of itself, does not translate into creativity.
Raising Arizona, however, does have its moments, and these all take place when the characters shut up. One of the absolute best scenes in the film is a sequence set off when H.I. tries to rob a convenience store of diapers for the baby he and Ed have kidnapped. With an innocent old man in a truck, a disgruntled store clerk, running dogs, a disappointed wife, police in pursuit, and bullets flying all over the place, it is a set piece that is clever in the way the different components come together. The writing and filmmaking in this scene actually has a pulse, which is a pleasant surprise considering the other moments in the film. Another highlight of the film is a bizarre Road Warrior character and his violent ways, killing any living creature in its path. The character’s actual integration into the context of the story is rough, but the character makes for some of the most memorable visual gags of the film, including a rabbit being blown into pieces by a grenade. The action sequences in the film are a breath of fresh air in this otherwise difficult-to-watch film, preventing this film from being completely terrible.
- Currently 2.0/5 Stars.