Raising Arizona

With a breakneck pace, Looney Tunes-esque ridiculously-exaggerated sound effects, boisterously rambunctious style, vertiginous camerawork and hysterical editing, I guess calling this batshit crazy Coens' crime comedy film a live-action cartoon wouldn't be preposterous. It's wild and quirky, but it's also extremely smart and clever in every respect. Just like a cartoon, it finds humor in the most horrifying scenes by hyperbolizing the violence to the brink of absurdity. But there are also boasts of that signature Coen brothers' stone-faced, deadpan humour here. Uses of repetition and refrains permeate the movie to produce some chuckles, but some of them are inextricably linked to the theme itself, most notably H. I. McDunnough's frequent run-ins with the law. Raising Arizona is also playful and cheeky, and I believe that is where it gains its heart. At the surface, the moments of emotional inertia are played for comedic effect, but they actually make room for H. I. McDunnough to reconsider and reevaluate the whole situation he and his wife are in after kidnapping the baby and ruminates over the consequences he regretfully waits. Nicholas Cage shines in these moments as his face that shows how bested by unavoidable fears he is juxtaposes the rather eccentrically affable atmosphere that predominates the entire movie. Holly Hunter's Ed, though, is the one who retains the emotional core of the movie that's ultimately unveiled by the end to hammer home the sweet message of the story. Hunter is phenomenal, and it's not her fault that the lunatic absurdism overshadowed the story's emotional beats every so often, the thing that made the movie a bit crude. Nevertheless, Raising Arizona is a fantastically maniac non-stop chase movie that's extremely heartfelt and kind at its essence, much like Gale and Evelle.