Starting from a point of delirious excess, the film leaps into dark and virtually uncharted territory to soar like a comet.
Comment
06/24/06
Raising Arizona (1987)
89
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:47
Fresh:42
Rotten:5
Average Rating:7.6/10
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: A childless couple unable to adopt decide that a couple who just had quintuplets won't mind if they steal one of the babies. Thus begins the Coen brothers' madcap romp RAISING ARIZONA. Holly Hunter... [More]
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, Trey Wilson
Director: Joel Coen
Get This Movie
Reviews for Raising Arizona
The film's family values will make your head hurt and the chase scenes will set your noggin spinning.
01/01/00
A highly original and funny film.
08/27/04
Like Blood Simple, it's full of technical expertise but has no life of its own.
05/20/03
Top CriticTo 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.
03/13/09
Top CriticWhat we have here is a film shot down by its own forced and mannered style.
01/01/00
Top CriticThe cartoon vision of southwestern tackiness doesn't cut very deep, but the mise-en-scene is packed with clever clutter.
11/06/07
Top CriticThe laughs keep coming courtesy of the many slapstick highlights that litter this fast and furious action comedy.
08/16/01
This film is just plain out hilariously funny!
01/01/00
A wacky, happy, daring, darkly comic tale of parenting outside the law.
01/01/00
Top Critic[W]hile this is one of their lesser films, it's still an amusing if uneven comedy.
09/10/02
The film is fast and it's funny. And it's not like most of the other comedies out there.
01/01/00
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.
10/31/06
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.
01/15/05
One of the most original and clever little comedies I've really ever seen, and it's all due to the greatness that is the Coen Brothers.
01/01/00
[T]his kidnapping farce from Joel and Ethan Coen is a deft nod to classic screwball comedy.
11/07/02
A very funny spoof about a colorful couple who must have a child and will try to get one by any means possible.
01/01/00
While film is filled with many splendid touches and plenty of yocks, it often doesn't hold together as a coherent story.
11/06/07
Top CriticRaising Arizona possesses such a bounty of thematic offerings that, despite its objective strengths, no praise matches the height of my own commendation
04/03/02
Latest News for Raising Arizona
October 17, 2008:
UK Critics Consensus: Is Burn After Reading A Coens Classic? Does Eagle Eye Have Enough Action, Man?
In this week's roster of UK cinema releases we have the latest addition to the Coen canon in the CIA comedy caper, Burn After Reading, Shia LeBeouf stakes a further claim to the... More...
November 07, 2007:
Total Recall: Welcome to Coen Brothers Country
Before expanding wide on November 21, No Country for Old Men (90 percent) will play in select cities this Friday riding a wave of huge expectations. The Cormac McCarthy-based... More...
February 02, 2006:
Coens Aim to Tackle New "Country"
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Joel & Ethan Coen's next film will be an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men." Word is that Tommy Lee... More...
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
MSN's Year in Review 
Take a look at MSN's choices for the Top 10 films of 2009.
Moviefone's Year End Movie Poll
What were your favorites? Least favorites? The funniest and scariest? Moviefone wants to know!
Tarantino's Characters
Hollywood.com explores why QT's characters resonate so well with audiences.
Top 10 Movies of 2009
TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.
Top 20 of the Decade
Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN RSS Feeds