Review of Raising Arizona (1987) by Dan A — 24 Mar 2013

I wanted to like this, I'd heard good things. But it's just one of those films that seemed to disagree with me on most levels.

First of all it's billed as a comedy, but humour is a very subjective thing and for me I didn't find it funny. I can see why people would if you like a more slapstick/wild style, but for me it didn't work.

It's extremely fast paced, things seem to whiz by on screen. Scenes are short and abruptly cut, and while that probably gave the film the tone the Coen Brothers were going for it gave me a headache after 20 minutes or so. The soundtrack didn't help with that either.

Like everything it comes down to personal preference, and I've realised that the Coen Brothers just don't make films I like to watch. Sure they've made some decent stuff here and there, but they've done nothing that I would rate that highly when it comes to my personal taste in movies. In fact my favourite film of theirs is 'Burn After Reading' which isn't very well liked from what I've gathered whenever I bring it up in conversations with people, so maybe when the Coen Brothers are at their "worst" (According to opinions within their fan-base) is when they make stuff that's closer to my flavour.

Anyway, 'Raising Arizona' just wasn't my cup of tea.