Review of Raising Cain (1992) by Josh H — 10 Jul 2008
This is the kind of De Palma film that's hard to enjoy. It's not bad or over the top enough to be fun to watch and it's not nearly good enough to be, well, good. It sort of treads the middle ground between films like Body Double (complete trash but oh so fun) and something like Casualties of War (decent and entertaining but nothing special). It never even gets near the heights of Sisters or The Untouchables while staying away from the bottom of the barrel feel of The Black Dahlia.
The only reason to watch this at all is John Lithgow, who actually isn't bad in such a serious role(s). There's times where he completely camps it up and it's fun to watch (him in drag for example..). Sadly, the whole reason for his multiple personalities is so thin and barely explained that it makes the entire thing seem pointless.
Of course, there's tons of Hitchock 'homages' as usual, but the film is not nearly as flashy of visually satisfying as even De Palma's worst films are. In the end, it's not his worst but it's definitely one of his slowest and most mediocre. I'd say it's worth seeing though just for Lithgow.
This review of Raising Cain (1992) was written by Josh H on 10 Jul 2008.
Raising Cain has generally received mixed reviews.
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