When I first began watching ARIZONA I wasn’t crazy about it.
I’ve never been a huge fan of actor Danny McBride. Looking through his list of
credits I found 2-3 movies of his that I enjoyed, neither of which featured him
as the main star and at least 2 movies I consider two of the worst films made
in the past decade. Needless to say my expectations for this film were not
high.
But at about 30-45 minutes in that changed. Not due to
McBride’s performance but because the movie actually began to get funny. Not in
a laugh out of your seat type funny but that dark humor fueled comedy that I am
a particular fan of.
The movie takes place in 2009 just after the housing crisis.
A small newly built community in Arizona lays near empty and realtor Cassie
Fowler (Rosemarie DeWitt) is doing her best to stay above water. Recently
divorced after her husband Scott (Luke Wilson) began sleeping with Kelsey
(Elizabeth Gillies) she lives with her daughter Morgan (Lolli Sorenson) in one
of the communities she sold houses in. Unfortunately the bank is about to
foreclose on that house since she hasn’t sold much since.
Cassie works for Gary, a jerk of a realtor played in a cameo
appearance by Seth Rogan. As he chastises her for being late to work and makes
some crude comments about her appearance in storms Sonny (McBride). Sonny is
visibly upset about the house Gary sold him promising a huge return on
investment. Now he too is about to lose his house. When Cassie moves to the
next room to take a phone call she watches through the window as the pair argue
on the balcony before Sonny pushes Gary over killing him. When he sees her
through the window he knocks her unconscious.
Waking in another house Cassie is confronted by a bumbling
Sonny who seems to think now is the best time to hide his face. He escorts her
on a tour of his home showing her the various upgrades he asked for and talking
about how his ex-wife always told him how stupid he was before leaving him with
their two sons. As he is about to free Cassie he realizes she lied about being
married and his issues with those who lie stop him. At the same time his wife
shows up and after a heated argument he knocks her unconscious too.
From there it becomes a comedy of errors with Sonny killing
people one after the other without intending to do so at first. But it becomes
apparent that he can’t leave any witnesses to send him away. As the body count
escalates so does Sonny’s insanity. What began as an accident move towards
premeditated murder, not just one but five with two more on the way. If Cassie
can survive and protect her daughter Morgan it will be a miracle.
So a movie about murder may not sound like a laughing matter
but it actually is a pretty funny film. But it is the situations and the
responses to those situations that make the film humorous. The absurdity of the
moment, the situation that all of them are thrown into is tragic focusing on
the housing crisis but the responses each takes toward the situation and the
compounding actions of Sonny because of it are what make the movie funny.
Most of the actors on hand here feel like they have minor
roles with the exception of DeWitt and McBride. As the frustrated divorcee
trying her best to survive and make a new life for herself and her daughter she
is quite believable. In spite of the tactics she uses to sell houses you still
have sympathy for her. McBride almost achieves that same level of sympathy in
the character of Sonny but he falls back on the one thing that he seems to
always do in so many roles he plays.
It’s as if McBride can’t go one minute without swearing and
his favorite word begins with F. Don’t get me wrong I know the word is used
often but I don’t know of anyone who uses it this much. It gets to the point
where it becomes distracting. My guess is that this is not the fault of the
writers here but of McBride himself since it seems to be is modus operandi.
The end result is a movie filled with coarse language but
that has some laughs in store for adults who find humor in the darkest of
comedies. It is so dark that eventually it changes from humor to seriousness by
the end of the film. It still makes for a movie more interesting than one would
think or expect.
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