Raising Arizona rated PG-13

Rated PG-13

Cast
Nicolas Cage – H.I. McDunnough
Holly Hunter – Edwina ’Ed’ McDunnough
Trey Wilson – Nathan Arizona
John Goodman – Gale Snoats
William Forsythe – Evelle Snoats

 

H.I. (Nicolas Cage) is a convenience store robber, a repeat offender.  Everytime he is caught, Ed aka Edwina (Holly Hunter), is the cop that processes him back into jail. Through the years, they become attracted to one another. When H.I. is released from jail, one last time, he asks Ed to marry him. Enter the happy montage of their wedding and life. Then, as some newly wed couples, Ed and H.I. decide that they are missing something in their life and they should have a baby. After planing and hoping and planning some more, Ed goes to the doctors to get checked out, and finds out she can’t have children. They also can’t adopt due to H.I.’s checkered past. This devastates Ed, and life gets rough for H.I. and Ed, until one day they hear the Arizona Family has quintuplets.  Nathan Arizona (Trey Wilson) is quoted in the newspaper as saying ‘It’s almost to much to handle’. This gives Ed the idea to take one of the babies. So they steal baby Nathan Jr. and try to live a happy family life. That is until two of H.I.’s inmate friends, Gale (John Goodman) and his brother Evelle (William Forsythe),  break out of prison and come to H.I. wanting him to let them stay at his house. H.I. and Ed are able to keep Jr.s origins a secret for a bit, but eventually the brothers find out and want to collect the $25,000 reward Nathan Arizona has offered for the return of his son.

I remember watching Raising Arizona as a child and finding it humorous. As an adult I still feel the same way. There are numerous mistakes in the movie and some plot holes you can drive a truck through, but it is a good  movie to watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon. There is a bit of guns, a bit of cursing, a little sex talk, shots of dirty magazines and smoking which explains the PG-13 rating. The characters are over the top, specially when they are yelling…it just goes on and on and on, but I found it humorous. Would I say this movie deserves an Academy aAward? No, but does that really matters – as long as it entertains you for a bit, it has done its job. I am also slightly curious if the writers of My name is Earl watched this film while coming up with some of their characters. All the characters in Raising Arizona would be right at home in Camden County. And vica versa.

You can stream this movie through Netflix. Raising Arizona on Netflix

Have you ever seen Raising Arizona? What are your thoughts on the movie?

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