Raising Arizona (1987)
…………………………………………………
Raising Arizona Movie Review
Raising Arizona is a 1987 crime comedy film directed by the Coen Brothers and starring Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter. It is yet another one of their very annoying films.
………………………………………………….
“Son, you got a panty on your head“
…………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
When a childless couple of an ex-con and an ex-cop decide to help themselves to one of another family’s quintuplets, their lives become more complicated than they anticipated. I am not a fan of this famous duo of directors and this kind of movie did not help change my mind about them. In fact, it only further cemented to me the fact that they are overrated and that their movies are a strong case of style over substance.
Admittedly, the action scenes are pretty well executed here. The robbery sequence is good and all the car chase scenes are a lot of fun. However, the movie’s tonally jumbled and indecisive. It tries to be a crime drama, but it fails so hard in that department due to the excessive comedic elements.
When observing it as the latter genre, I also did not care for it. Now, humor is a very personal thing and what is funny to some would not be funny to other people. Speaking wholly for myself here, I found this movie utterly unfunny. Each and every situation is overloud, over-the-top and exaggerated, but never in a good way. It is one of those movies that heavily focus on people’s accents and it making fun of those accents made it feel very dated.
The same goes for those many overly ridiculous action sequences of pure mayhem. I did not like any of it. The movie’s dialogue is simplistic and disappointing and the characterization is beyond slight. You do not get to know any of the characters properly. Holly Hunter is good here and Nicolas Cage was very well cast in one of his first crazy roles, but the script is almost non-existent. It was just an excuse to make a chaotic comedy that is really about nothing. It is well shot and edited, but again it’s solely focused on the visuals and the style with no proper story ever to be found.
…………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
I see all of these critics and people gushing about Joel and Ethan as if they were top tier directors. I really liked O Brother Where Art Thou, and I sort of wanted to see Fargo. However, I continuously picture the Coens to be overrated, because of hype I see in the films. I picture that there will be tons of southern accents in their movies as well. I like how you are not one of the crowd of conformists who bow to them, but I would still like to see what the two have to offer anyway.
I never bow to anybody and I do not conform, thanks for noticing that. I am glad that you agree with me that they are simply not all that great. They are a mixed bag for me. I liked some of their stuff. True Grit was very good, No Country for Old Men and Big Lebowski were also solid. Those three are worth seeing for sure. But others I found overrated for the most part. I just find their style annoying to me, especially the mixing of the comedy and crime genres and the humor that mocks accents above all else. None of that appeals to me.