Raising Arizona (1987)

Surprisingly pleasant movie to watch, and subtly funny, as are most of the Coen Brothers' films. I liked it better than Fargo, and it has several moving moments.

Had to write a review of this given the generally blah reviews already here - one of the best comedy films I have seen and some outstading one liners. Coen brothers gold. 'I'll be taking these huggies and any cash you got on the premises' - oh yeah.

If you like the humour of the Coen Brothers movies, then you'll like this one too. Some of the same actors as Brother Wherefore Art Thou, and similar style. Very good.

A very quirky black comedy. If you don't like offbeat, then don't bother. But if you like something different, don't miss this. The first Cohen brothers movie that I saw over 20 years ago. Great characters, strange bedfellows, odd camera angles and underlying it all, a rather touching story of a childless couple who'd do anything to have a family. An excellent performance from a deadpan Nicolas Cage as the smalltime crook with a soft heart and a desire to please. Holly Hunter is also great as the feisty small town cop who falls for one of her collars. There are echoes of this early Cohen film in their latest academy award winner, No Country for Old Men. Just look at the parallels between the Bounty hunting biker and the menacing Chigurh in the latter film. I might have to agree with others in that this movie takes more than one viewing to fully appreciate. I loved it first up and have seen it a dozen times. There is a story in every trailer park.

The music (Beethoven’s countrified 9th symphony) and colourful desert landscape (Arizona) a movie doth not make! RA is a screwball comedy that doesn’t work because it wobbles from approximations of real people to ludicrous comic book exaggerations leaving the audience not knowing what to anticipate from one scene to the next. Neither the acting talents of Holly Hunter nor a young and trim looking Nicholas Cage can sustain this most uneven and unfunny attempt at caricature believability. As an early Coen Brothers film (’87) it might only be worth a cinema buff’s viewing to search for creative comic links with the far superior O Brother, Where Art Thou? made 13 years later.

Well what Can I say? I usually like Cohen Brother films but this one left me wondering.

Disappointed but a friend tells me it took 3 viewings before he got a lot of it. This was my first viewing

Great stuff, and well up to the Coen Brothers usual high standard.

Wonderful example of the Cohen Bros inventiveness and constructive commentary on the US way of life and values.