ARIZONA DVD (2018)

SYNOPSIS: Set in the midst of the 2009 US housing crisis, this darkly comedic story follows Sonny (Danny McBride – Pineapple Express, This Is The End), a disgruntled homeowner, and Cassie Fowler (Rosemarie DeWitt – Black Mirror, Poltergeist), a single mom and struggling realtor whose life goes off the rails when she witnesses a murder. When the unstable Sonny turns up at Cassie’s office, things quickly spiral out of control. Despite Sonny’s assertion that he’s “a really good person,” he knocks Cassie out’ kidnaps her, and drags her along on his impulsive spree of violence.

MOVIE REVIEW:

Not to be confused with Joel Coen’s 1987 brilliant crime comedy, Raising Arizona, Arizona is just a plain, pointless stupid thriller that squander the so-called housing crisis premise and the talent of leading woman, Rosemarie DeWitt.  

Set during the real estate crisis of 2009, DeWitt plays divorced realtor Cassie Fowler who lives in a nearly barren neighbourhood in Arizona with her teenage daughter, Morgan. When Cassie witnessed the death of her boss, she is taken hostage by the killer played by comedian Danny McBride. Just when you thought it’s a dark comedy about anger and frustration while poking fun at the failure of the America economy, Arizona quickly turns into a serial killer thriller with McBride’s character killing practically everyone in sight.     

Honestly, we don’t really want to spoil this movie for you but it’s indeed that bad. Arizona fails on every account as nearly every scene has McBride blabbering non-stop and committing stupid mistakes and unforgiveable sins. When your leading character deserves no empathy from the audiences and your female lead has nothing else to do except screaming her lungs out, your movie is in deep trouble. 

McBride probably thinks he is Michael Myers confusing Arizona with Halloween (2018) if you forget he is the co-writer and producer for the latter. Even with a measly 85 minutes of running time, it’s a drag to sit through although one of McBride’s off-screen buddies, Seth Rogen makes an uncredited cameo together with Luke Wilson in a thankless role. So unless you are an ardent fan of McBride’s irritable motor-mouth humour and disturbing killings, Arizona will be a title tailored for you. For rest of us here, we stick to Raising Arizona.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL

AUDIO/VISUAL:

The DVD delivers a rather good Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack which features clear audio and loud sound effects while the visual quality is commendable.  

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee