Review of Raising Arizona (1987) by Mickey M — 07 Mar 2013

"H.I." (Nicholas Cage), a convict who goes by the nickname "Hi", and his police officer wife (Holly Hunter), who he met while being booked on a robbery charge and courted during even more bookings on robbery charges, have been trying to have a baby. They soon learn that she can't have a baby.

They try the adoption route, with her appearing at the adoption agency in uniform, but they are denied because of "Hi's" huge criminal record. Soon after, the couple learn that a local businessman and his wife have just brought home a set of quintuplets, and because she wants to be a mother so bad they decide to take one of the children and raise the kid as their own.

I have heard a lot of good things over the years since this movie came out, and I have to disagree with what people have said about this film.

The first problem with the movie is the script. It's basically not funny at all, and the performances all around suffer from it. None of the characters were memorable, and were all a bit over the top.

None of the jokes, with exception of two, made me really laugh. In fact the jokes were not real funny at all. Maybe if they were set-up better, the jokes may have worked.

Like I said earlier, the performances are bad all around. Not one of the characters are performed with any intelligence. Every character is one step up from an idiot. Maybe this was done because the writers thought it would be funny, but it wasn't.

Even the wardrobe was pretty boring, as was the sets. If you ask me, the movie was also poorly developed, as were the characters.

If you ask me, this movie should only be seen on TV. I wouldn't rent this one, unless my first five choices were not available.