Nicolas Cage Movie:

				Salesrank: 230157
		Used Price: $20.00
		MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
Blood Simple made it clear that the cinematically precocious Coen brothers (writer-director Joel and writer-producer Ethan) were gifted filmmakers to watch out for. But it was the outrageously farcical Raising Arizona that announced the Coens' darkly comedic audacity to the world. It wasn't widely seen when released in 1987, but its modest audience was vocally supportive, and this hyperactive comedy has since developed a large and loyal following. It's the story of "Ed" (for Edwina, played by Holly Hunter), a policewoman who falls in love with "Hi" (for H.I. McDonnough, played by Nicolas Cage) while she's taking his mug shots. She's infertile and he's a habitual robber of convenience stores, and their folksy marital bliss depends on settling down with a rug rat. Unable to conceive, they kidnap one of the newsworthy quintuplets born to an unpainted-furniture huckster named Nathan Arizona (Trey Wilson), who quickly hires a Harley-riding mercenary (Randall "Tex" Cobb) to track the baby's whereabouts. What follows is a full-throttle comedy that defies description, fueled by the Coens' lyrical redneck dialogue, the manic camerawork of future director Barry Sonnenfeld, and some of the most inventively comedic chase scenes ever filmed. Some will dismiss the comedy for being recklessly over-the-top; others will love it for its clever mix of slapstick action, surreal fantasy, and homespun family values. One thing's for sure--this is a Coen movie from start to finish, and that makes it undeniably unique. --Jeff Shannon

Raising Arizona [Region 2] Reviews:
Stealing babies is not funny; or is it?
2009-11-17 - I've said this before, and I'll say it again; The Coen Brothers are really a `love em or hate em' kind of duo. Their films are really distinctive all to themselves and run the gamut of over-the-top in a good and a bad way. As the years go by and I see more and more of their films I am coming to the realization that my personal love for them outweighs my hate. In fact, there are only two films they've done that I can think of off the top of my head that I hate (`Intolerable Cruelty' and `The Man Who Wasn't There') and a slew of films that I absolutely love (`Fargo', `Miller's Crossing', `Blood Simple').

That said; `Raising Arizona' may very well be my FAVORITE Coen film!

That may be a pretty bold statement, and quite honestly it may not be entirely accurate (notice I said `may very well be') since I am a huge lover of all things `Fargo' and `Miller's Crossing', but the fact of the matter is that `Raising Arizona' is the Coen's at their finest. It is absolutely hilarious, completely engrossing and it capitalizes off the brother's stylistic incorporation of political humor, dark undercurrents and simple yet uproarious character development.

It is a complete package.

So, I'll be clear and state, as I did in my title, that stealing babies is not funny, at least not when it's showcased on an episode of `Snapped' (OMG did you see that episode?!?!?!), but it is rather hilarious when the crime is committed by Nicolas Cage (in one of his best performances) and the hilarious and totally brilliant Holly Hunter. As love-struck police officer Edwina, Hunter is deadpan brilliance here. Edwina falls for professional (and rather dimwitted) bandit H.I. (call him Hi) when she's booking him. Next thing you know they are married and wanting to start a family. The only problem is that Edwina is infertile. So, instead of thinking of a rational alternative (been there, and rational is not where your head automatically goes) they decide to kidnap one of the highly publicized Arizona babies.

Big mistake.

If you follow my reviews you know that I am not a huge fan of Nicolas Cage. He is a conundrum for me, because when he is good he is REALLY good (look at his marvelous performances in `Adaptation' and `Leaving Las Vegas') but all too often he is just so one-note that I struggle to connect with him. Thankfully he loosens up drastically here and delivers a sharp and hilarious comedic performance. He is matched (and even topped) but the marvelous Hunter, who is comedic gold here. She manages to capture the real maternal instincts without ever overly sympathizing her character's comedic arc. She is supposed to be over-the-top and irrational, and she never loses that.

Supporting players like John Goodman and Frances McDormand are stellar (just STELLAR), but for me it is Trey Wilson who blows them all away with his take on Nathan Arizona, the vengeful father. He is a perfect blend of sarcasm, wit, ferocity and (oddly enough) charm. It's the perfect support to the crazed lead performers.

From start to finish this is one fun, entertaining and rewarding ride that just further proves the fact that these brothers (Coen's that is) know how to make a unique and engaging film!

Squalid and sad
2009-09-27 - Young people cannot resist. they have to get married, then they have to have babies, then they have to have all that comes along with these enslaving devices called children. The Coen brothers are of course inventing a situation that is so complex that building a frame house on Mars would look easier. The man has been in and out of prison so often that he hardly knows what non-criminal living is. He has fallen in love with the cop that has been taking his police pictures every single time. But let's be more bleak (I would like to say more bleaker à la Michael Jackson) than that. She is sterile. And a dumb furniture dealer named Arizona has quintuplets exactly at the same time. So the man will steal one of the five babies, since the Arizonas are over-provided and he is under-provided, in fact deprived. Add to that a married couple whose husband is sterile and who have adopted five kids. they propose a swap for fun and love. No way. Bang Bang. Add to that the arrival of two apes who have just escaped from the prison by digging a hole and who come to their ex-inmate-friend to survive for a while away from the cops. And then the drama is total. The kidnapped child is kidnapped by the two prison escapees when they are told to beat it, and then by the motor-cycled bounty hunter who is running after the reward for the kidnapped baby when he gets on their back, and then back by the initial kidnappers, and then finally, what can they do with that child? A little bit of suspense for your own sake. Only the Coen brothers can invent such a bleak and sickening story. It is not hilarious, except if you like sick and sickening humor, but it is somewhere deep about the incapability of society to really provide everyone with a fair chance to do something worth living, and first of all a vision of life that could be better than the hell of an unavoidable purgatory from which there is no exit, escape or way out, a purgatory in which you are forever pampered with infantile childish punishing nappies in the shape of diapers.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID


DVD format is 1.85 LETTERBOX (non-Anamorphic)
2009-09-13 -
I wish the studios would get it together especially being now 2009, most of the U.S. now own WS TV's. You do lose quality when you have to zoom in to fill the screen. Plus as in my case I have to drop the resolution to 720p before my WS LCD will allow me to do a Zoom. If set to 1080p, Zoom disappears from the "Picture Options" menu

What is really sad is when they release a "Special Edition" or "Director's Cut", etc. and it is in 4x3 LETTERBOX. A perfect example of this is "The Abyss (2 Disc Special Edition)", the THIRD DVD release of this GREAT film (one of my all time favorite's) and it still NOT anamorphic, it's 2.35:1 in a 4x3 LETTERBOX ... #$%^&*!@.

A Coen brothers' letdown
2009-08-17 - I can't believe that the average review of RA is 4.5 stars. I've purchased hundreds of movies through Amazon the past 3 years and have never written a review but I feel compelled to on this one. This is not a funny movie in the least. Oh, you'll get a couple of chuckles but it certainly doesn't warrant 1.5 hours of your time. The narration of Nicholas Cage needs a MAJOR upgrade - I just couldn't wait until he finished his final one so I could "shut it down". And the bounty hunter had no place in this picture - like, where was his story thread any way? The Coen brothers probably want a redo on this puppy - they can (and do) do much better.

I have mixed feelings about this
2009-07-13 - The Coens' films are such a mix, in my opinion....so much good and a whole lotta not-so-good and some really awful. I liked Lebowski, loved O Brother, and liked Miller's Crossing. Hated Fargo and a recent one that was so bloody that I've forgotten it already, but it won an Oscar. No Country for Old Men, I think.

I liked a lot about this...Nicholas Cage is wonderful and Holly Hunter is too. The story...well, it seemed like they might have written it as they went along. It was mostly an excuse to make a film, I think. There are some genuinely funny moments and I laughed out loud quite a few times, mostly in the beginning. It seems like they started this film with some good ideas and then they ran out and had to figure a way to tie it all together. Not a very satisfactory ending, but better than having everyone bleed to death, which one could well expect from the them.

I don't know what the male equivalent for "chick flix" would be...."guy films?" Lots of fights, none of which are mildly funny to me, but then I'm not a guy. I keep thinking that the Coens need to be psychoanalyzed and then maybe they'll iron out the kinks in their wierd shared psyche and make some really good films. One can hope.

I could also complain about their continual use of people who they consider to be socially inferior to them, usually rural, working class, often religious. Their innate snobbery is beginning to bother me even as much as their gratuitious violence.