Short Review: Raising Arizona (1987)
★★★★½
Raising Arizona includes many things repeatedly featured in the subsequent three decades of the Coens’ filmography: plots revolving around multiple competing interests and parties greedily pursuing the same semi-macguffin (in this case, a baby), instantly memorable characters, absurdist comedy, criminals shown in silly light, John Goodman screaming, and an ending in which the protagonist explains a dream he had. The only things missing from this movie that are mainstays in the rest of the Coens’ filmography are quirky existential dialogue and Roger Deakin’s cinematography. Raising Arizona reaches neither the visual nor the philosophical heights as some of their other movies, but it surely stands as one of the Coens’ most distinct, engaging, and funny concoctions.
