Arizona (2018)

I recently watched Arizona, the 2018 dark comedy thriller currently streaming on Netflix, and this is one of those movies that is very easy to enjoy while simultaneously realizing you probably won’t think about it again in two weeks.

But you know what? Sometimes that’s perfectly fine.

The movie stars Danny McBride in a role that feels tailor-made for him, which is essentially “deeply unstable man who somehow manages to become even more unhinged with every passing scene.” Set during the 2009 housing market crash, the story follows a struggling realtor who ends up caught in an increasingly violent and wildly chaotic spiral after a confrontation with a desperate homeowner goes very, very wrong.

The housing crisis backdrop works surprisingly well here because there’s already something inherently stressful and emotionally volatile about that period in American life. Everyone in this movie feels like they’re two unpaid mortgage payments away from completely losing their minds, which gives the whole movie this sweaty, anxious energy from the very beginning.

What I think Arizona does best is understanding exactly what kind of movie it wants to be. It never tries to become prestige cinema or some deeply profound social commentary about the collapse of the American Dream. It’s here to give you ninety-ish minutes of escalating bad decisions, awkward violence, uncomfortable humor, and characters making choices that make you want to yell at your television.

And in that sense, it absolutely succeeds.

The biggest strength of the movie is definitely the tone. It balances dark comedy and thriller elements pretty effectively, which is harder to pull off than people think. There are scenes that are objectively horrible on paper but somehow still funny because of how absurdly committed everyone is to the chaos unfolding around them.

Danny McBride especially is clearly having the time of his life here. He plays a character who is simultaneously terrifying, pathetic, and weirdly entertaining to watch all at once. The movie fully leans into his ability to make even the most ridiculous dialogue sound bizarrely believable.

That said, while I had a genuinely good time watching this, I can’t necessarily say it left a huge impression on me afterward.

The characters are entertaining enough in the moment, but not especially memorable long term. The plot keeps moving, but it never really builds toward anything emotionally deeper or particularly surprising. Even the violence, while effective, starts to feel more like part of the movie’s chaotic atmosphere than something carrying major weight.

I enjoyed it. I laughed more than I expected to. I never felt bored. But once it ended, I mostly just thought, “well, that was a fun little disaster,” and immediately moved on with my evening.

I also think your enjoyment of this movie is going to depend heavily on your tolerance for dark humor and deeply unpleasant people making catastrophic decisions. There are no heroes here. Nobody is particularly stable. Nobody is making good choices. The entire movie basically operates on escalating panic and bad impulse control.

But if you enjoy dark comedies where ordinary suburban problems spiral into complete insanity, this is definitely worth checking out. It’s fast paced, chaotic, occasionally very funny, and just self aware enough to keep the whole thing entertaining.

Not every movie needs to change your life.

Sometimes you just want to watch Danny McBride psychologically unravel in the Arizona heat for an hour and a half.