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Rating: The second work behind the camera by the Coen brothers is the one that introduces their enormous talent to the general public; three years after the dark and haunting noir "Blood Simple," many expected a second opaque work or at least something in the style of the previous film. Instead, Joel and Ethan surprise everyone with a completely different movie.
"Raising Arizona" is a lively and colorful comedy once again dominated by the desert landscapes of the southwestern United States (moving from the Texas of the previous film to Arizona). The beginning is a long prologue where, through amusing sketches, we learn about the events that lead the good-hearted thief Hi (a young and mustachioed Nicholas Cage) to marry policewoman Ed (Holly Hunter). The couple lives happily ever after, but they face a crisis when they discover they cannot have children. The opportunity to start a family arises when the wife of a famous furniture salesman, Nathan Arizona, gives birth to five children. The kidnapping of one of the blond babies will only temporarily bring peace to Hi and Ed's life, as the generous reward offered by Nathan Arizona for the return of his son triggers a hunt for the child. This involves two crazy brothers, Hi's ex-convict prison mates who have escaped from jail (one of whom is John Goodman, who will become another "symbolic actor" of the Coens), and a mysterious and menacing bounty hunter riding a Harley-Davidson (a prototype for the later Anton Chigurh from twenty years later).
From a technical and narrative point of view, Raimi’s influence is very strong, and we can undoubtedly say this is the most Raimi-like film by the duo, even more than the "Hudsucker Proxy" that will actually be written with Sam. There are many gags and comic, cartoonish ideas, the most notable being the names chosen by the Arizona couple for their five children (Garry, Larry, Barry, Harry, and Nathan Jr.) or the absurd dialogues during a bank robbery. The constantly over-the-top characters (particularly Cage's) and the increasingly absurd sequence of events make the final result even more chaotic.
It is evident, therefore, that much inspiration, from the hilarious car chases (iconic is the one triggered by the theft of diapers!) to the characterization of the two escaped brothers, comes from the previous collaboration "Crimewave," but unlike that lackluster work, we do not have a series of gags for their own sake, but there is also a strong underlying message, highlighted by the almost Allen-esque ending, suspended between comedy and melancholy: the protagonists’ desire to have a family and live a calm life clashes with the as yet unreached maturity of the two, particularly of Hi, who almost gives in to the pressures of being a father and husband and joins the two escapees for a bank robbery. However, the optimistic vision prevails, the encounter with Nathan Arizona strengthens the thief's desire to change his life (despite the grotesque always lurking, as it's quite unlikely that a father would start talking to two strangers who've entered his home about their reasons for kidnapping his child), and in his sleep the same night, he imagines first that even the two escapees return to prison voluntarily because they, too, are not yet ready to face life, and then imagines himself and Ed as old, surrounded by children and grandchildren, a premonition of regained family serenity.
It's a very beautiful comedy, although still somewhat raw, the mix of comedy, dark humor, and sentimentality is not yet fully balanced, and the rhythm does not remain constant, and consequently, neither does the viewer's attention, but it is worth watching if only to see Nicolas Cage in the least wooden role of his career. Which is no small feat.
SCORE = 7.5
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