Raising Arizona (1987)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
H. I. McDonnough	Nicolas Cage	½
Edwina	Holly Hunter	½
Nathan Arizona, Sr.	Trey Wilson
Gale	John Goodman
Evelle	William Forsythe
Glen	Sam McMurray	½
Dot	Frances McDormand	-
Leonard Smalls	Randall "Tex" Cobb
Machine Shop Ear-bender	M. Emmet Walsh	-

Review

This perpetually wacky comedy views the world through the eyes of uneducated, simpleton southerners: everything is colourful, unpredictable and possible. It's meant to be a combined homage and mockery of said people and their surroundings, and it's superbly shot by the Brothers Coen, but it just ain't funny. At least not to this reviewer. The Coens are great observationalists, but not equally apt at writing pure narrative-driven comedy. So once the somewhat amusing characters are established and Raising Arizona is supposed to take you on an adventure, it keeps resorting to screams, smirch, and supposedly screwball antics for effect. Every reaction is amplified – except my laughing. Nicolas Cage is onto something with a character that is more interesting than this picture gives him credit for.