Raising Arizona

It can be argued that it is quite easy to make a very personal situation universal. After all, many people experience many similar situations, and the stages of life are often repeated between generations. Following that logic, can one make a completely absurd situation seem universal? Well, Raising Arizona is evidence that is possible as well.

From old Movies at Random favorites the Coen Brothers, in a relatively early example of their being totally awesome at movies, we get a simple story about a couple wanting a baby. The couple in question consists of pre-crazy Nicholas Cage as H.I., a convenience store stickup...well artist really isn't the right word, since he gets caught all the time. He falls in love with Ed, played by Holly Hunter, the police officer who is always booking him. He decides to go straight so they can get married and raise a family. The family doesn't come, but discount magnate Nathan Arizona (Trey Wilson) has five babies! Five! Since they figure they'll never have one of their own, H.I. and Ed decide that the best thing to do would be to steal one. Then a bunch of increasingly bizarre chases happen - including a pure genius one involving the police, dogs, and a supermarket - and we have a situation that has never actually faced anyone, but is completely universal.

Raising Arizona is all about anxiety, especially the anxiety inherent in becoming a parent for a first time. There are questions about whether or not you can get a kid, whether you can raise them when you do get one, and whether a gigantic guy with a beard and grenades will try to steal him away. Okay, that last one is more symbolic than an actual fear by many parents, but that's kind of the point. It lets you laugh at the increasingly ridiculous worries these people face, since you know that an embryonic version rests in all of us.

One day I'll talk about pre- and post-crazy Nicholas Cage, but I think we need a good post-crazy entry before we get to that point. While he's so goofy you wonder how he became a leading man, he's turns in a great performance here. H.I. needs to be a strange looking guy with a goofy voice, and if there's an actor alive who fits that description, it's Steve Buscemi. However, Nicholas Cage also fits that description and he can play a loser with the best of them.

Now, I've never been a parent, though I know people who are, but I am no stranger to anxiety. Worries can start small and escalate into a scary bounty hunter of a concern if they're allowed to persist, and it's nice to see a movie that confronts the ridiculous things resting in the subconscious head on. It's nice to see that all the worries a parent might ever experience are confronted head on in a variety of different ways. It's as though the film is saying, it's okay, it's normal to worry, if just by including anything one could be anxious about somewhere in the film. That's the beauty, no matter how ridiculous it might be, you're going to see something you've worried about represented in the film.

A Life Less Ordinary

I like Danny Boyle, even if I didn't especially like the previous Danny Boyle directed entry in this big thingy. I like him because he's not afraid of doing all sorts of crazy things, whether or not they fit within his comfort zone. He made his name with Trainspotting, the premier movie about heroin enthusiasts. He won his Oscar for making an uplifting tale about an Indian kid winning a quiz show, which I haven't seen yet. He tried a zombie film, he's tried science fiction, and he's tried this, whatever this is.

The movie is about love. Love between a mismatched couple forced together by the whims of a cruel god, and his completely insane angels Holly Hunter and Delroy Lindo. The man in the couple is Ewan McGregor, an awful novelist who is also a janitor. The woman is Cameron Diaz, spoiled socialite who is more than a touch insane. McGregor is replaced by a robot, Diaz shoots a prospective husband in the face, and they come together to defraud her father out of millions, and the angels bring them together with the power of violence and robbery. Ah love, what a thing.

This movie was a notorious flop, but I enjoyed it. This is odd, because the characters actually aren't very likable. Diaz is impulsive and immature, McGregor is the world's worst kidnapper, and a weak and ineffectual person. Together, they are a whiny couple that is constantly bickering and disagreeing with each other. Diaz helps McGregor become a better kidnapper, but kind of a worse person, and her character doesn't develop at all.

So yes, there are flaws, big glaring flashing neon signs flaws, but I liked it. I liked it because it's funny. Sure, the characters aren't particularly likable, but they belong together, two extremely unlikable characters together to not sully up the lives of anyone else. Truly, they do belong together.

I also appreciated the pure power of Boyle's filmmaking. You're tricked into caring about what happens because of the ridiculously pretty cinematography, the fantastic soundtrack, and the often clever editing. He can make you temporarily forget about how technically unlikable everyone is, just by making the events become suddenly entertaining. If anyone else tried this script, it would have been terrible - B. Monkey, for example, is actually surprisingly similar plot-wise, but is utter shit.

I won't pretend that it's a great movie. Certainly, it failing should not have been unexpected. But, honestly? I was entertained for two hours. I laughed at some of the clever lines and some of the clever slapstick, I enjoyed some of the clever filmmaking, and I was genuinely entertained by the events taking place. More importantly, it seemed like everyone was having fun with the film, and fun with their characters. A bad script, perhaps, but I honestly am glad I watched.

Bless you Danny Boyle, I look forward to the next one of your movies I get to see, even if I didn't like your zombie picture.