Directed by Ethan Coen

Whether you like this movie or not, you like this movie. It’s impossible to dislike.

This was Nicholas Cage‘s insane, take-the-weirdest-roles-possible era, so of course he’s starring as the totally crazy (but also not crazy at all) H.I. McDunnough — A.K.A. the hero we didn’t know we needed, who also is decidedly not a hero. But we want him to be a hero? Welcome to the magic.

He’s beautifully balanced by Holly Hunter with a fantastic arc as Edwina. Ed displays a stunning range of female adult emotion, from her launch as the toughest cop on the block to quietly, reluctantly in love, to a woman manically obsessed with the concept of motherhood.

The whole movie is, in fact, about Ed’s quest for a family. She and Hi will go to any length to realize their dream of raising a child, and that determination provides all the fodder needed for a thoroughly enjoyable 90 minutes.

The cast

In Raising Arizona, the Coen brothers bring us in Trey Wilson, perfectly cast as Nathan Arizona, the unpainted furniture salesman, John Goodman as Hi’s convict buddy (with William Forsythe as his brother and co-conspirator), and Frances McDormand & Sam McMurray as a couple of Hi and Ed’s friends.

Every performance is somehow both understated and over-the-top, rife with silliness and unintentional personal reflection and dark thoughts; delivered via some of the deepest prose-like dialogue of all time served in the goofiest way possible.

There are rumors that Cage and the brothers didn’t always get along on set due to Cage’s infamous habit of doing whatever he wants at all times, but the long & short of it is this: he got it. He knew what was funny about the story, and he delivered every line for maximum hilarity.

Holly Hunter = chef’s kiss.

The story

This plot has some issues. And it’s fine! IT’S A MOVIE. It’s not supposed to make sense in our reality? Like, duh?

Raising Arizona is filmed and displayed like a slice-of-life while totally rejecting most normalities of real life. That’s what’s fun. It’s screwy craziness at its finest, the poetry of the script is a pure delight, the camera shots are absolutely nuts and so fun, and it sure did set the brothers up for a career of success.

Fun facts

• That crazy camera sequence that starts in the desert and ends inside Florence Arizona’s wide-open, screaming mouth was filmed in reverse. So was the shot of the car stopping milliseconds from baby Nathan’s car seat in the middle of the street.
• Frances McDormand is married to Joel Coen, in case ya didn’t know! She’s also in Blood Simple (1984), Miller’s Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), Fargo (1996), The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001), Burn After Reading (2008), and Hail, Caesar! (2016).
• Here’s a random podcast episode of Quentin Tarantino talking about Raising Arizona. Worth a listen.

Final thoughts

This movie is so fun to just sit and take in (story, look & feel, etc.). It’s unlike most other things you’ve seen, including other kidnapping movies, other movies about parenthood, other crime movies, and on and on. The dialogue is chaos. In what other film could you find a husband saying his wife’s “insides were a rocky place where my seed could find no purchase,” or escaped convicts claiming they “released ourselves on our own recognizance,”?

Also Holly Hunter is a good crier. Also, the yodeling. The end.

This movie is good.

My rating: 4/5