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Raising Arizona

Raising Arizona (1987)

tomatometer

90

Average Rating: 7.6/10
Reviews Counted: 49
Fresh: 44 | Rotten: 5

A terrifically original, eccentric screwball comedy, Raising Arizona may not be the Coens' most disciplined movie, but it's one of their most purely entertaining.

50

Average Rating: 5.5/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 3

A terrifically original, eccentric screwball comedy, Raising Arizona may not be the Coens' most disciplined movie, but it's one of their most purely entertaining.

audience

82

liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 81,317

My Rating

Movie Info

Combining influences from Tex Avery cartoons to Sam Raimi horror movies to 1940s B-movies, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen followed up the stylish film noir of their debut, Blood Simple (1984), with this frantic screwball comedy. H.I. "Hi" McDonnough (Nicholas Cage) is a philosophical but slightly dim career criminal who has been arrested so often that he gets to know "Ed," short for Edwina (Holly Hunter), the officer who takes his mug shots. Hi takes a shine to Ed and promises to go straight if she

PG-13, 1 hr. 34 min.

Comedy

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Aug 3, 1999

20th Century Fox

Raising Arizona Trailer & Photos

More Trailers and Videos (1)

Cast

Critic Reviews for Raising Arizona

All Critics (49) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (45) | Rotten (5) | DVD (13)

To their old fascination with Sunbelt pathology, to their side-winding Steadicam and pristine command of screen space, the Coens have added a robust humor, a plot that keeps outwitting expectations and a...dollop of sympathy for their forlorn kidnapers.

March 13, 2009 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comment
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The cartoon vision of southwestern tackiness doesn't cut very deep, but the mise-en-scene is packed with clever clutter.

November 6, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Pat Graham
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

While film is filled with many splendid touches and plenty of yocks, it often doesn't hold together as a coherent story.

November 6, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety | Comments (8)
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Like Blood Simple, it's full of technical expertise but has no life of its own.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment (1)
Vincent Canby
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A wacky, happy, daring, darkly comic tale of parenting outside the law.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Rita Kempley
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

What we have here is a film shot down by its own forced and mannered style.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment (1)
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The immense joy of this is in the realization that, for all their precision, Joel and Ethan Coen are essentially comic barnstormers rather than frigid ironists

March 21, 2010 Full Review Source: CinePassion | Comment
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

Sharp, inventive and hilarious, with a marvellous cast of Coen regulars.

March 13, 2009 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment
Film4 Source: Film4

An entertaining, energetic, and stylish comedy about a simple but loving couple who long to be parents.

November 6, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

In a shrewdly calculated move to show their versatility, the Coens made this madcap comedy right after Blood Simple. If their debut was slow and spare, this one has breathneck pacing and hopping banter by terrific Holly Hunter and Nicolas Cage.

October 31, 2006 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

Starting from a point of delirious excess, the film leaps into dark and virtually uncharted territory to soar like a comet.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment
Geoff Andrew
Time Out Source: Time Out

This is one of the funniest things I've ever seen!

March 10, 2005 Comment
Clint Morris
Moviehole

Raising Arizona... is an explosively clever and riotously funny exploration of fertility, homemaking, and the working class in the prisons and trailer parks of the desert southwest.

January 15, 2005 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment
Eric Meyerson
Filmcritic.com

The film is loaded with marvelous slapstick sequences and quirky character humor. While some viewers may find it too eccentric or too ready to make fun of blue collar America, most will find its comic surprises and unpredictable narrative to be most fulfi

October 14, 2004 Comment
Douglas Pratt
DVDLaser Source: DVDLaser

A highly original and funny film.

August 27, 2004 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | Comment
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Nic Cage may never be better.

June 18, 2004 Comment
Luke Y. Thompson
New Times
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Raising Arizona

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Probably one of the best opening scenes ever put to celluloid. It is quirky, lovable, a fascinating study of the nature vs. nurture debate, and a clear indication that in the coming years the Coens would be a force to be reckoned with.

March 8, 2011
axadntpron
Reid Volk

Super Reviewer

A childless ex con and his wife abduct the baby of a local celebrity but things become complicated when his escaped prison buddies show up on their doorstep with a demonic bounty hunter on their tail. Raising Arizona is the closest the Coen brothers have come to straight comedy and it has a lot of very funny moments,

November 2, 2006
garyX
xGary Xx

Super Reviewer

Raising Arizona Quotes

View All

    1. Evelle: Mighty fine cereal flakes, Mrs. McDonough.
    – Submitted by Jenny K (5 months ago)
    1. Dot: Reilly, You take that diaper off your head and put it back on your sister.
    – Submitted by Stephen G (7 months ago)
    1. Nathan Arizona Sr.: Nobody sleeps naked in this house boy!
    – Submitted by Stephen G (7 months ago)
    1. H.I. McDonnough: I'll be taking these Huggies and whatever cash you got.
    – Submitted by Chris P (13 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Arizona Junior (DE)
  • Arizona Junior (FR)
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