Review of Raising Arizona (1987) by Unknown H — 20 Aug 2011
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. (A-).
This review of Raising Arizona (1987) was written by Unknown H on 20 Aug 2011.
Raising Arizona has generally received very positive reviews.
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