House of Games (1987)
VERDICT:
7/10 Sleights of Hand
Not my favorite thing by Mamet, but still pretty awesome on that first go around.
House of Games is about a successful, yet overworked psychiatrist who is put in the awkward position of having to get involved in one of her patient’s affairs when he informs her that he’s gonna get bumped off overnight if he doesn’t pay up a gambling debt of $25,000 that he doesn’t have. Like any good shrink, she goes to guy to whom the debt is owed, tries to resolve the situation without paying out of pocket and through a course of events finds herself swept up in a world of con men who make their trade by manipulating human behavior.
It’s written and directed by David Mamet, and hopefully we’re all in agreement here that David Mamet is the man. It takes a special kind of writer to turn a story about a handful of aging real estate agents trying to swindle their way into keeping their jobs by swearing a lot and duping every sucker they can get their mitts on, but that’s Glengarry Glen Ross for ya’ and it’s the my favorite script of all time. If you haven’t seen it, see it, but that’s pretty much Mamet’s m.o. with everything he does – writing scripts about asshole guys who take pride in their lives of crime and are so effing cool that it’s impossible to hate ’em no matter how despicable their actions are.
It’s a solid formula, one that Mamet happens to pull off gorgeously more often than not, and while he’s a big reason this movie works as well at does and is so damn easy to get caught up in, he’s also one of the things holding it back.
Same goes for the cast. It’s a vicious circle.
See, when the con is on, this movie is gold, baby. The dialogue gets sharper, the performances get better, and isn’t that the whole draw of this story, to watch these pros do what they do best? It’s a blast watching everything unfold and things get awfully intense when you’re out of the loop despite all the guesses that are kicking around your brain.
But when the con is off and the shrink starts getting all romantic and such with our king con, that’s when I had to drop this from an 8 to a 7.
For the most part, Joe Mantegna ain’t too shabby as Mike and has the great opening line of, “What the fuck is it?” upon introducing himself to the said shrink. But as cool as he is, the guy’s magic only goes so far when it comes to sweet nothings and it’s hard not to raise an eyebrow when some of the garbage lines he drops makes this gal swoon. And as for Lindsay Crouse as Dr. Margaret Ford, she should get her money back from The Acting School of Staring Contests, or at the very least get an honorary degree. The woman seriously makes two different faces throughout the entirety of the movie, one of which last ten seconds and looks like a statue trying to weep, and she’s just a very strange addition to a cast of folks who don’t need to try all that hard to be cool.
Needless to say, this doesn’t help matters any, but thankfully there’s more twists and turns here than you can you shake a stick at and it’s easy to overlook any shortcomings when these grifters are up to no good.
It’s also got Ricky Jay as one of Mike’s associates, and if you don’t know Ricky, trust me, he’s pretty effing cool. He’s also a magician in real life. Don’t find too many cool magicians these days.
The thing is, I’m writing this review after having seen it a second time, well aware of how it was going to end and what was waiting around each corner, and some of the magic is admittedly gone for me. It’s a lot easier to be nitpicky about the flaws when I can already see the big picture and forget about how mind-boggling all this stuff was the first time I was figuring it all out, so a lot of these gripes may very well be null and void for the rest of you’s out there. Nonetheless, House of Games is a great movie to discover whether you’re thinking like a thief or a sucker throughout. Even at its worst, it’ll still put you on the edge of your seat and keep you thinking.
Just do everyone a favor and keep the predictions to yourself. No one likes to watch movies with “the predictor”.
Heya folks,
So we got us a bonus Thursday post thanks to our guy Mike over at You Talking to Me? and his blogathon about all those movies that kicked ass so epically hard that every imitator thereafter was doomed to royally suck. Neato idea considering we’ve all been forced to see at least one of those knock-offs in our time. So check it out and hope you dig my rant about why The Ring still scares the pants off me.
Greatest Movies That Made Going to the Movies Suck #10- The Ring
Peace!
The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
VERDICT:
8/10 Criminal Intents
A familiar story very well-told.
The Secret in Their Eyes is about a retired lawyer in Argentina who rekindles an ambiguous friendship with his former colleague/head-over-heels love interest while researching one of his old cases that’s been at the back of his mind for going on three decades to use as the basis for his first novel. So we travel back 25 years to when the case falls into the lawyer’s lap as he begins his hunt for a young woman’s killer after she’s been raped and murdered in her home, leaving her husband grief-stricken and determined to see justice served as outside forces continually conspire to block their efforts.
So the only reason I even went to see this in the first place is probably the same reason a lot of other people are now seeing it as well, because it’s always a bit surprising when a movie no one’s even heard of takes out a shoo-in at the Oscars. Granted, this is still the only foreign film from last year that I’ve even gotten around to viewing, so I have no idea if it’s up to snuff with The White Ribbon or A Prophet, but on its own, I was surprised by how much I liked it.
It’s from a director I’ve never heard of, it features a cast of actors who I’m just now seeing for the first time, I didn’t even know this movie existed until it was announced as a nominee and it’s from a country that I didn’t even know made movies (but apparently they make some of the best movies out there according to my Argentinian friend, Nahuel). Yeah, I definitely didn’t have this one down on my Oscar ballot, but hey, a good movie’s a good movie even if it did cost me a victory this year.
The story plays out like a murder mystery with our crew of legal experts acting as makeshift detectives who keep taking two steps forward and one step back thanks to a suspect legal system and a couple folks who would rather let sleeping dogs lie. Like I said, it’s a familiar premise and the romantic plot line between our two lawyers seems to fall by the wayside in contrast to some of the far more interesting aspects of the plot, but it’s still got a well-written, borderline badass script backing up some pretty effing wild scenes.
Let me tell ya’, director Juan Jose Campanella has put together one intense little ditty here. This is like Zodiac intense, stuff that quietly sneaks up on you when you’re already on edge and stops those lungs from functioning properly until the next scene boots up. There’s one lengthy foot chase scene in particular that goes down at a soccer (or shall I say football) match that’s nothing short of astonishingly well-filmed and reminded me a heck of a lot of the kind of things that Alfonso Cuaron pulled off in Children of Men. It’s just one of numerous scenes that were very much the bomb and hard to forget that helped to elevate the story from ordinary to Oscar-worthy.
The cast is also fantastic and considering that it’s sometimes hard for me to judge someone’s performance when I’m trying to simultaneously read everything they’re saying, this is worth mentioning. Everyone’s very cool and collected and do so without trying too hard; it makes them believably hardened folks without coming off as the Argentinian Sam Spades, and I dig that. Not sure if I’ll ever see them again unless I get on some South American film festival kick, but I hope this gets them recognized all the same.
But is it Best Foreign Language Film quality? Eh, I guess.
The Secret in Their Eyes is a really good movie and it’s got a lot of things going for it, but with the exception of its final Act, there isn’t a whole lot about its story that’s gonna ring new and it also feels kinda long even at two hours and change. But it still packs a wallop, it’s an interesting meditation on the forces that drive us in life and it’s absolutely worth seeking out even if the weak title isn’t doing it any favors.
Can’t wait to see the competition this was up against.
Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)
VERDICT:
7/10 Spray Paint Picassoes
Still not quite sure what to make of it all, but I know I liked it.
Exit Through the Gift Shop is a documentary about a funky Frenchman who by being in the right place at the right time finds himself smack dab in middle of the underground street art movement in L.A. and England that took off during the last decade, capturing it all on video for a supposed documentary that he might not even make because he doesn’t know the first thing about film making. It’s also about an anonymous and infamous man of mystery named Banksy – the individual at the forefront of turning graffiti into “subversive art” – and his relationship with our French camera man as they work together to show the world what street art is really all about or end up completely screwing the pooch in the process.
Now, if none of what I’ve written so far sounds the least bit interesting, click on the link below before reading further:
Awesome, right? That’s Banksy for ya’. On with the show.
So, for those of us who are somewhat familiar with the guy, there are a couple things about him that tend to stand out.
1) The dude’s super talented and can work a cardboard stencil plus a can of spray paint like you wouldn’t believe.
2) He does not like The Man.
And 3) I don’t even think his mother knows his true identity and there are maybe two individuals who are damn good at keeping a secret that actually know how he works.
In a world where you can find out anything about anyone in the blink of an eye with the help of our good friend Google, being a high-profile artist and having no one know your real name or what you look like is no easy feat to accomplish, yet somehow he does it right in front of our faces, and that is awesome.
It’s all part of the guy’s appeal and as interesting as our French street art/mutton chop enthusiast Thierry Guetta is, the real selling point of Exit Through the Gift Shop is the inside look to Banksy as person rather than Banksy as an image that we get. We still don’t get to see his face or hear his actual voice, but just seeing him at work and listening to him speak behind a muffled mic make for some really effing cool footage. It’s not often anyone ever gets to the see the artist at work, but it’s another thing entirely when the art is illegal and the artist’s m.o. is going extraordinary lengths to make sure that no one’s watching.
But the crazy thing about this movie is that some folks out there are convinced that the whole damn thing is a hoax perpetrated by Banksy himself. Knowing Banksy, I wouldn’t count it out, but the even crazier thing is that it makes the movie that much more appealing. Maybe it’s the real deal, maybe it’s a mockumentary, maybe it’s a little bit of both, but whether it’s a brilliant form of self-promotion or just a wild story about two guys that are bringing the message of street art to the masses and/or taking the first steps to being its first sellouts, it’s a fascinating little specimen to get lost in and a big part of the fun is how you interpret it.
I feel like Exit Through the Gift Shop might have a larger appeal to folks who are just being introduced to Banksy since a lot of his work will be brand spankin’ new, but for those of us who’ve spent a good twenty minutes flipping through Wall and Piece while wandering through Urban Outfitters, it’s still something else to get this behind-the-scenes look at the guy even if the amazement factor might be dwindled a smidge. I wasn’t as crazy about the final Act as I was with the rest of the movie since Banksy ends up taking more of a backseat to Thierry and his rapidly inflating ego, but that first hour is a solid 8 and I’m kind of itching to see it again.
It’s funny, it’s crazy, it’s intense, it’s incredibly interesting and even though it doesn’t create the same kind of insight into an underground culture you hardly knew existed like, say, The King of Kong did, it’ll leave its impression on you for a good while after. It’s also got a pretty kickass soundtrack, and that’s something I can always dig.
Idiocracy (2006)
VERDICT:
6/10 Dope Shows
Eh, not my favorite thing by Judge, but a pretty inspired effort all the same.
Idiocracy is about an exceptionally ordinary army Private and an exceptionally ordinary hooker who get roped into a military experiment where they’re put into a hibernated state for a year, but then a wrench gets thrown in the works and they find themselves snoozin’ for an extra 500. Turns out, Darwin was an idiot and didn’t account for all the mass moron inbreeding that would eventually overwhelm the Earth’s population by 2505, so when these two guinea pigs show up in a world where everyone’s IQ is that of a turd with a heartbeat, they wind up being the smartest people alive and have to fix everyone’s problems before it all goes to shit.
Seems to bear an awfully close resemblance to Futurama if you ask me, but hey, nothing worth complaining about there.
So after worshipping Office Space, immediately forgetting about Extract as soon as I left the theater and chalking up Beavis and Butt-Head Do America as the under-appreciated comic gold that it is to anyone who cares to listen, it was about damn time I finally got around to completing my tour of the Mike Judge catalogue and see what all this word of mouth was about (not counting King of the Hill, I don’t have that kind of time). The thing I’ve always liked about Mike was that his best ideas were simple ones driven by simple, relatable characters in simple, relatable circumstances, and maybe I’m just not hip to some time traveling phenomenon that’s been going on over the past four years, but this is a bit of a change in direction for the guy.
But despite having this “high comedy” premise going for it, there’s really just one big thing driving every single aspect of this movie: epic stupidity. Now, sometimes stupidity of this caliber can be as good as it gets (e.g.: Dumb and Dumber), but here it just gets to be a bit much after a while. Don’t get me wrong, it is funny, but I found it kinda weird that I thought the funniest part of the whole thing was a gag involving an Army official who gets involved in the ways of pimping, and that whole bit takes place before our average Joe and Jane even get to the future.
The problem is that while I was expecting everyone to be pretty unintelligent in this movie, I was pretty surprised to find that they were all more or less operating on neanderthal levels. Strangely enough, everyone here is too stupid.
It works for some characters like Terry Crews as President Dwayne Elizando Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho, but then you have someone like Dax Shepard as a lawyer named Frito who more or less drools on his urine-stained knickers for the whole running time and it just didn’t do it for me. Doesn’t help matters that I can’t fucking stand Dax Shepard, let alone any of those douchebags who rose to “fame” from Punk’d, but everyone’s just so damn stupid that it ends up working against the movie in the long run.
Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph are good as our soldier and tramp of the hour, I just wish they weren’t playing off jackasses the whole time.
I don’t know, folks, even I’m kind of taken aback at how critical I am of this movie and that’s why I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt. Idiocracy‘s definitely a smart comedy that has its moments, but it’s also stupid as hell. Usually I’m all for stupid, especially stupid done right – which is exactly what I think this movie’s getting at – but for some reason other than Dax Shepard, it didn’t gel. At the moment, that 6 up there is pretty generous, but I’m hoping that’ll change when I watch it a second time with people who love it. Worked for The Big Lebowski, here’s to hoping it works for this one, too.
And the best baseball movie is…
MAJOR LEAGUE!
…wait. What?
Looks like I need to give this another go ’cause I didn’t think it had a chance against the likes of Field of Dreams or even The Sandlot. Totally misjudged that one, but hey, the people have spoken and we have ourselves a winner.
Strange days over here on the internets.
RESULTS
– The Sandlot: 8 votes
– Bull Durham: 5 votes
– The Natural: 5 votes
– A League of Their Own: 5 votes
– Field of Dreams: 4 votes
– Major League: 13 freakin’ votes
– The Bad News Bears: 2 votes
– Eight Men Out: 1 vote
– Other: 1 votes for The Babe (never seen it), 1 vote for For Love of the Game (that Kevin Costner sure likes his baseball), 1 vote for Rookie of the Year (well played), 1 vote for Mr. 3000 (really?) and 1 vote for “No such thing as a good baseball movie” (sounds like someone’s still pissed about those player strikes)
God, I need to see every last one of these again. I feel so un-American.
The Graduate (1967)
VERDICT:
8/10 Original Cougars
The anthem for all us of out there just floating around in life.
The Graduate is about a recent college grad with no idea of what he wants to do with his life, a complete disconnect with everyone around him who seems to know exactly what he should be doing with his life and a much older friend of his parents who’s hellbent on getting him in the sack despite her being married. Lo and behold, she gets her way and life is still pretty blah for our little Benjy Braddock, but then this lady’s daughter shows up on the scene, Ben takes her out on a date, realizes that she’s the only thing in his life that actually matters, and that’s when things get awkward.
This is one of those movies that’s been placed on a cultural pedestal of epic proportions, from “Mrs. Robinson” to the final Act of Wayne’s World 2, it’s become a cinematic legend of sorts that I feel more people know about than have actually seen. Maybe I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, but the general reaction I hear from folks who finally get around to actually watching this tends to fall somewhere in the area of “History was right! That was effing great!”
And rightly so, because it really is that effing great and has totally stood the test of time.
That’s because The Graduate is universal. Regardless of age, gender, education or generation, I’m pretty sure everyone comes a crossroads in their life where they just don’t know what to do with themselves and might even be pretty content with it. It might come in the form of a mid-life crisis, maybe it’s been there all along, but for our boy Ben, it came right around the same time it came for me, right after getting his college diploma.
Ben’s not so much the voice of a generation, because I’m pretty sure these kinds of mood swings aren’t gonna be fading out any time soon, but rather the poster boy for disenchantment with life. He’s nervous as sin, he’s green behind the ears in nearly every single way, everything he does is prompted by someone else telling him to do it and by the time he does find that one thing in life he actually does want, that he actually does connect with, it ends up being the one thing he can’t have.
Sounds familiar? That’s what I thought.
As good as Anne Bancroft is as Mrs. Robinson and as much as I love a Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack as the next guy, The Graduate‘s all about Ben for me and this funny, insightful script along with Dustin Hoffman being the man brings him real close to home. It’s great to watch him go from this pushover and professional hanger-outer to someone insanely passionate that will stop at nothing to steal away Elaine Robinson.
And honestly, didn’t we all absolutely hate being asked by everyone what we were going to do after college? Jesus H. Murphy did that wear out fast. I’m all about having direction in life, but who out there always knows exactly what they’re gonna do next? These are the kinds of things we’ve gotta figure out for ourselves, folks, and who the hell wants to work in plastics anyway?
It’s also a really well-made movie by Mike Nichols that’s just beautifully shot, moves along at a great pace and serves as a crash course in Great Editing 101.
But here’s the thing…
If I had written this review four years ago when I had first seen it as a college undergrad, clueless as to what the hell I was gonna do with my life, too busy perfecting the art of funneling beer to even think about graduation and feeling like Ben Braddock was the walking, talking voice of Aiden that was written up just for me, I would probably have given this a 9 or even a 10. But now, with a real job in the real world with my own real cubicle, hardly able to finish a six pack without feeling like a beached whale and doing my best to turn a hobby into a career, it’s at an 8, and I’m alright with that even if I wasn’t expecting it.
Don’t get me wrong, The Graduate is a phenomenal movie that lives up to all the hype it’s garnered over the course of 40 years and spoke to me in a way that movies rarely do, but just as I’ve changed since college, so has my connection to Ben. It’s the same with The Catcher in the Rye – first time I read it as a High School Sophomore, I thought Holden was a bum, read it again four years later and I thought he was the man. Strange how that happens.
From a technical standpoint, this is always going to be out of sight and so will the cast, but it’s a movie worth revisiting at different points in your life because life is what it’s about and I don’t think any of us are the same person we were four years ago.
And how about Mr. Feeney as Ben’s dad? Awesome.
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
VERDICT:
9/10 Trust Issues
Man, that Robert Mitchum was one cool sonofabitch.
The Friends of Eddie Coyle is about an aging gunrunner with pals in low places who turn to him as their one-stop-shop for all their firearm needs as they run around town sticking up one small-time bank after another. But Eddie’s got a problem, a problem involving him doing time upstate, so he turns to a dirty cop to get him out of it in exchange for leads on a machine gun-smuggling hippie, but that might not be enough to get Eddie cleared without having him go full-out snitch.
Such are the dilemmas of being a blue-collar criminal in Boston. That kinda crap would never happen in New York.
This is one of those movies that’s unfortunately gone the way of the dinosaurs over the years, a movie that for some reason just doesn’t get made anymore in this world overrun by directors on speed who think swearing as loud as you can while waving around a gun as big as your torso makes your characters “badass”. Yeah, it’s a fossil and the only person you might recognize is the grandpa from Everybody Loves Raymond, but this, folks, is a refreshing trip back to the golden era.
See, Eddie Coyle is the antithesis of flashy. The characters are all working men that are entirely unbecoming despite their lines of expertise, it makes Boston in Winter look like the coldest, most average, un-Hollywood setting in the world and the whole damn cast looks and acts like they were picked out of a bar outside Fenway. A lot of the credit here goes to director Peter Yates and writer Paul Monash on this one, because I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a more authentically ordinary movie without it being a documentary, and that’s exactly why it stands out.
The story’s also out of sight and it’s up there with some of the best stuff by Elmore Leonard. Took me a bit to figure out everyone’s role, how they were all connected and what exactly was going on at first, but keeping the audience out of the loop actually ends up working in its favor. It keeps you interested instead of frustrated and one of my favorite aspects of this whole thing was the awesome time I had putting all the pieces together.
And for a movie that I was expecting to have some serious down time in between heists, there’s really none to be found. The great thing about this script is that all the scenes where guys are just talking to each other are as compelling as a group of guys robbing a bank, and that’s something else. This isn’t Tarantino dialogue, there’s no drawn-out speeches that no one in their right mind could make up on the spot (not to say that I don’t love Tarantino-speak or anything), it’s simply realistic, badass men having realistic, badass conversations at normal speaking levels, and I. just. love. that.
But like I said, Robert Mitchum plays Eddie “Fingers” Coyle, and the dude makes it look painfully easy. Mitchum’s always been one hard mother effer, but the reason Eddie steals the show is that it’s like he’s not even trying, like he’s gone through so much shit in life that he doesn’t have time mince words or strain himself trying to act tough when it just comes natural. He’s a man who gets to the point and makes damn sure you’re on the level before you try to bring him down to yours, and everyone learns right quick that a couple jewels of wisdom from Eddie go a damn long way.
Peter Boyle and Alex Rocco (Moe Green from The Godfather) are also great as Eddie’s “friends”, but Mitchum’s where it’s at.
The only thing that’s strange about this movie is its occasional funk soundtrack that sounds totally out of place in comparison to absolutely everything else, but that’s easy enough to overlook. Wish there wasn’t any music at all though, seems more fitting for a group of guys that definitely don’t listen to funk.
Look, The Friends of Eddie Coyle is just a great, legit time capsule back to a period when film makers knew a thing or two about the weight of presence rather than the weight of screaming. It’s a no-frills ride, it’s a movie that makes me blind with confusion as to why it ever went out of style and it’s a fantastic testament to one of the great truths in this world: “Life’s hard, man, but it’s harder if you’re stupid.”
Write that one down, kiddies, ’cause you sure as hell ain’t gonna learn that from Michael Bay.
The Notebook (2004)
VERDICT:
6/10 Good Boyfriend Points
About as good as anything by Nick Sparks is ever gonna get.
The Notebook is about two old fogies in a nursing home, one of whom has dementia and doesn’t even know who she is, the other being sharp as a tack and fit as a whistle. In the hopes to get this gal’s memory cells fired up again, gramps begins reading her a story about a rich Southern belle who falls for a blue collar boy from the bayou over the course of one Summer whose love is put to the test as her parents do everything in their power to put a stop to all this socioeconomic inbreeding. Turns out that the story’s about 600 pages long and it takes pops all day to read it, but since he’s the nicest stranger in the world, he keeps on truckin’ like the trooper he is so that this lovely lady can find out how these two kooky kids wind up sucking face in the rain.
Yup, it’s a chick flick, no surprise there, but when you consider that Nick Sparks is also the guy behind Message in a Bottle, Dear John, The Last Song and a couple other menopausal/teeny bopper sobfests that I hope I never have to watch, The Notebook is actually at the top of the heap. Not to say that this is good enough to warrant what seems like every girl on Earth to have heart palpitations every time this turns up on TBS, but it has its saving graces.
The most notable of these being the cast.
To be honest, I have no idea how the producers pulled together the cast that they did for this one, because there are some big timers here. Bringing James Garner, Joan Allen, Sam Shepard and Gena Rowlands (one of my all-time favs) into one space doesn’t happen every day, folks, and they’re all pretty good in their respective roles. And even though Mean Girls came out that same year and it wasn’t until Half Nelson that I fell in love with the guy, this was a pretty big stepping stone for Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling. She’s good as Allie, she’s very graceful in the role, and he’s good as Noah, and he grows a kickass beard to boot.
Those two made a good couple, got me into their story more than I probably should have.
But as far as everything else is concerned, eh, it’s pretty standard tearjerky stuff. Nick Cassavetes (son of the great John Cassavetes) films it with the beauty of a Lifetime motion picture event, Sparks’ script is out to make us all cry by writing the same the story he always writes and don’t be surprised if every plot prediction you’ve already thought up by looking at that poster comes true two hours later. The good thing is that for all these flaws, it’s not overly-corny to the point where all is lost, but then again, a lot of the credit goes to the cast on that one.
Look, The Notebook really isn’t my thing, but it still ain’t bad thanks to a decent story that’s elevated by a better cast, and there’s also that whole bro crush on Ryan Gosling I’ve got going on. There are far better chick flicks out there and there are far better stories to be told, but, fellas, there are far worse things to be subjected to on movie night and, who knows, you might just like it. Just be grateful you’re not watching Nights in Rodanthe.
And, ladies…enjoy.
Raising Arizona (1987)
VERDICT:
9/10 Eager Parents
Right up there with The Big Lebowski.
Raising Arizona is about a recovering small-time crook in AZ who marries one of the cops at the prison he keeps getting sent back to and eventually takes her hand in marriage. So our conman tries to get his life back on track while working to have a kid with his super-anxious wife, but then they find out she’s barren and our happy couple decides to kidnap a newborn quintuplet from Arizona’s version of Donald Trump and raise him as their own since no one will let them adopt. What starts out as a strangely justifiable scheme with the best of intentions quickly turns into a world of trouble for these two country bumpkins who just want to a family of their own without bounty hunters and ex-cons raining on their parade.
It’s the first comedy by the Coen brothers, it’s the second movie they ever made, and even after not having seen it in a decade or so, it’s as good as it’s ever been.
As unreal as these guys are at making some of the best serious movies out there, no one does dry, dark humor like the Coens. I could see other people try to make this story into something funny and wind up turning it into B-grade trash, but that’s just their m.o., like turning a guy with a bowl cut into a cold-blooded killer. The thing is, it’s not just one strong element that makes this movie work, this is the rare concoction of a great script with hilarious characters that have hilarious dialogue that’s delivered with perfect timing as they all get into one hilarious and insane scenario after another that the Coens pull off without batting an eye.
Throw in an awesome cast and film it like the pros they are, and you’ve got yourself an easy 9.
Now, I can’t say that I remember all too many of Holly Hunter’s movies, but she’s out of sight as our upstanding new mom, Ed, and so is Nic Cage as our new dad with a penchant for five finger discounts, H.I. Yup, that’s no typo, I just paid Nic Cage a compliment, even went so far as to call him “out of sight”. The first sign of the apocalypse has officially arrived. But with the exception of his turn in Adaptation, he’s spot-on as H.I., it’s one of the two times in his career that he does the opposite of make my blood boil and as much I hate the taste of my own foot, credit is due where credit’s deserved.
H.I. really is the man though. I love H.I., I love his name, he’s a fantastic main character and it’s so damn refreshing to see Nic play a mild-mannered individual for once. So enjoy all the positivity, Nic, you done good and thanks for using your inside voice.
We’ve also got John Goodman as a freeloading escaped convict (Goodman + Coens = comic gold, it’s a foolproof formula) a choice cameo by Frances McDormand and Randall “Tex” Cobb as a badass bounty hunter straight off the set of The Road Warrior.
The whole gang is fantastic in their respective roles and they’ve got fantastic characters to work with. I like when ordinary, endearing folks get put at the forefront of a totally wacko story like this, it makes them seem extraordinary to a certain degree and it just makes the whole thing that much easier to get caught up in. It plays out like a thriller but the characters always maintain a sense of cool even when shit gets really crazy, and that’s nothing new for the Coens, and that’s why I dig it.
Raising Arizona also has one of the best intro sequences I’ve ever seen that takes off like a supercharged General Lee in its first ten minutes, and while it doesn’t quite keep that rapid-fire momentum up for the rest of the running time, it’s the only minor complaint I could come up with.
It’s been a good while since the Coens have been so insanely funny like they are here, but this really does belong in the same canon as Lebowski and Fargo, and that’s saying something. Even in 700+ words I still feel like I haven’t scratched the surface as to why this movie is so good without me rattling off all the classic scenes that are putting a big old grin on my face as I write this, but trust me, you gotta see it. Raising Arizona‘s just a flat-out funny movie with a fun, heartfelt story that, like all great Coen brothers movies, only gets better and funnier with subsequent viewings.
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