It’s a joyous satire about what it takes to raise a baby in a chaotic world and a slick crime caper with unforgettable characters and quirks.

| Feb 22, 2024

Two features into their career, Raising Arizona shows that the Coens are as effective with comedies as they were with neo-noir.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 7, 2024

A distinct calling card for their more overtly comedic instincts; a frenetic farce that combines slapstick sensibilities and giddy playfulness with the English language...

| Nov 14, 2023

Amiably gonzo pretty much nonstop.

| Original Score: A+ | Aug 31, 2022

Coens have not achieved the maturity needed to appreciate the vision of a Capra or Sturges, and their gifts are too rich and deep for the likes of Heckle and Jeckle.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 9, 2022

What we get from the opening sequence of 'Raising Arizona' is the brilliance of Burwells score, the poetic storytelling of Hi, and Sonnenfelds imposing camera work. The opening sequence to Raising Arizona could be a short film in and of itself.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 12, 2022

The Coen's best pure comedy, driven by that great chase scene (35th anniversary)

| Original Score: B+ | Mar 19, 2022

Raising Arizona is a funny, charming film with a strong visual style, delightful performances, and a unique sense of humor.

| Mar 8, 2022

Though Raising Arizona is one of their funniest and most accessible films, it is also among their most introspective.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 14, 2022

...ultimately one of the Coens' kinder (if not gentler) efforts.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 31, 2021

A delightfully singular, strikingly bizarre, and unquestionably hysterical cult comedy.

| Original Score: 10/10 | Sep 7, 2020

...the movie's tremendously affable atmosphere is heightened by the efforts of a perfectly-cast roster of performers...

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 30, 2020

As well-made as any other indie film of the late '80s, and frequently hilarious on top of it.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | May 4, 2020

Yes, the Coens are techno-brat showoffs, but when the show is this good, who cares?

| Jul 7, 2017

In their first masterpiece, the Coens first delight with sheer kinetics, then dazzle with colorful colloquialisms & verbal voodoo, and eventually disarm you with the grace and guile through which they examine modern foibles, failures and forgiveness.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jan 30, 2017

A non-stop chase movie filled with so much good humor it's like an all-expense paid trip to another planet.

| Nov 8, 2016

Raising Arizona is no big deal, but it has a rambunctious charm.

| Jan 14, 2013

The immense joy of this is in the realization that, for all their precision, Joel and Ethan Coen are essentially comic barnstormers rather than frigid ironists

| Mar 21, 2010

To their old fascination with Sunbelt pathology, to their side-winding Steadicam and pristine command of screen space, the Coens have added a robust humor, a plot that keeps outwitting expectations and a...dollop of sympathy for their forlorn kidnapers.

| Mar 13, 2009

Sharp, inventive and hilarious, with a marvellous cast of Coen regulars.

| Mar 13, 2009