Raising Arizona

Rating:
Summary: Does this DVD come in a funny shape?
Review: No, 'less you think round is funny.

Rating:
Summary: Like Going Home...
Review: I've watched this film several times since my husband bought it & it never fails to leave me teary-eyed from the belly laughs. I usually don't laugh aloud at movies that are -supposed- to be funny. I've heard this from a few other people & it's a sad commentary on filmmaking.

But. This quirky movie was truly hilarious. The dialogue fills up the film; everything said is actually funny! The physical slapstick is funny. And of course, you never quite understand what the heck is going on.

Ed & Hi are hilarious, and their redneck lifestyle & honest-to-goodness "family values" were quite close to a few oddball neighbors from my childhood. Weird. I know. Being from the South is a bit eerie at times; you find yourself explaining a lot of things to non-southerners & then wondering why the heck it never struck you as odd before. I heard amazing authenticity in those phrases. And accents.

Sweet. Strange. Very funny. You'll enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Well alright then!
Review: One of my favorite movies. Like it so much I named my new son Nathan!

Rating:
Summary: Rasing a hit
Review: This is quite possibly one of the funniest films every made by the Coen Brothers (The other is "The Big Liboski"). Nicolas Cage is a riot as "Hi", a coviencne store robber who's married to "Ed", a police officer (Holly Hunter). After stealing a child from a furnature salesmen, because Ed can't produce a baby. After that, the salesman hires a Road Warrior, who is later found out to be Hi's dad. This is a great film to buy, if you collect Coen Brothers films. Or just buy it if you like to laugh!

Rating:
Summary: My favorite comedy of all time
Review: I would say more, but it would only echo those who praise it below. I cannot imagine anyone not liking this film. For me, it's more quotable than Monty Python ever.

"We got a family now, everything's chaanged..."

Simply Classic.

Rating:
Summary: Best Movie Ever
Review: When I first saw this movie I missed the point...After the third or fourth viewing I realized there is no point, as is the case in coen movies. Over the years I came to love this movie, it is my friend's and I favorite film. It is ingenious in that the most awkward situations become hilarious and enjoyable. Buy this and know that youll need to watch it several times to get all the jokes.

Rating:
Summary: Classic cult comedy
Review: This classic cult comedy is one of the best ever. The Coen Brothers started with this movie as their offbeat comedies, Blood Simple wasn't really a comedy. Nicolas Cage stars as an ex convict who falls in love with a policewoman named Ed, played by Holly Hunter. As they live their "salad days" in a trailor in the desert they find that Hunter is barren, his fruit find no place in her loom. So they do the next best thing, steal a baby from the Furniture Kind, Mr. Arizona, who's wife has just had a number amount of babies. With this baby comes along trouble. Very funny movie that also stars John Goodman, Randell T. Cobb, and Frances McDormand.

Rating:
Summary: Coen and Coen do comedy
Review: I thought John Goodman was the funniest person on the screen in this one. He has a quality in his acting that could turn comedy to drama or horror in a fraction of a second. He did that a couple of times in this film, and of course with TV's Roseanne it was a weekly chore. I wouldn't be surprised to see him cast as some kind of really mean heavy one of these days. He could do it.

Holly Hunter proves here and elsewhere that she is more than just a pretty face. Her almost painfully true to life portrayal of a nice but not overly bright cop was perfect. Normally almost too cute for words, she was here almost plain. I think she was working on her career for the second half of her life. (She was twenty-nine when this film was made.) She knows that there is nothing deader in Hollywood than a "cute" actress past her thirtieth birthday. (Meg Ryan and Goldie Hawn providing cases that test the rule.)

I thought Nicolas Cage gave his best performance in Mike Figgis's Leaving Las Vegas (1995), but without the gorgeous Elisabeth Shue, I would never have watched that good but rather depressing flick. I thought he was tolerable in Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), but I didn't think much of the film. In David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990) he certainly gave a creditable performance, and maybe even a very good one; and the movie wasn't bad, but I just thought that he and Lynch pandered too obviously to their young, outsider audience. None of this is anything against Cage; it's just that the character he usually depicts, a sweet, dumbed-down/but lovable outsider, just doesn't appeal to me. (Of course Cage himself is anything but dumb.) It's obvious that the movie-going public likes him a lot, and I imagine that women find him sexy, cute and just the kind of non-threatening guy they'd like to snuggle up to. Still Cage is worth keeping an eye on. I think with the right material, he may one day give a performance worthy of a great actor. One thing I can tell you for sure, if you like Nicolas Cage, you'll like this movie because his presence and style dominate throughout.

As far as the direction and script goes, this was not in the same league as either Blood Simple (1984) or the widely acclaimed Fargo (1996), two previous and of course very different offerings from the talented brothers, Joel and Ethan Coen.

Rating:
Summary: One You Can Quote Line by Line
Review: This is a movie that, like Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you will find yourself quoting line for line in your daily conversation. "We ate sand," "If'n round is a funny shape" and "If I freeze, I can't drop, and if I drop, I'm gonna be in motion," are only a few of the notable quotations.

Rating:
Summary: One of the funniest films of all time!
Review: In the tradition of Neil Simon and Blake Edwards, this wildly out-of-control film is the tragically funny story of a recently released fellon (Nicolaus Cage) and his parole officer wife (Holly Hunter) just trying to get their act together by marrying and raising up a family. When Hunter finds she cannot have one of her own, she hatches a plan to steal somebody else's - a quintuplet, figuring that, as Cage puts it, "Oh Honey! They won't miss him! They've got more than enough!" The movie soon snowballs into even greater despiration and our little family does its very best to survive. John Goodman adds to the mehem as one of Cage's close prison buddies. "It's only natural." If you long to find another "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", look no farther than Arizona. It's a lot closer than you think. [e-mail]