ARIZONA (2018) **

When the housing bubble burst in the early part of the century, many homeowners fell victim to predatory loans, became stuck with mortgage payments they could not afford, and wound up losing their homes.  Arizona is a darkly comic thriller that tries to tap into that frustration to fuel its plot.  It’s a novel and promising set-up, but unfortunately, the follow-through lands with a thud.

Danny McBride stars as a disgruntled homeowner about to lose his house.  He goes to the real estate office and confronts the realtor (Seth Rogen) who sold him his home and they wind up getting into a brawl.  During the scuffle, McBride accidentally kills the guy and is forced to kidnap another agent (Rosemarie DeWitt) who witnessed the whole thing to make her stay quiet.

It’s a great hook.  In fact, the opening twenty minutes or so would make for a terrific short film.  Think Desperate Hours meets The Big Short.  It’s just that the tension soon dissipates once the plot becomes more and more repetitive.  McBride does something stupid, DeWitt escapes, he has to recapture her, and another poor dope winds up dead.  There are only so many variations on this scenario you can do before it gets tiresome.  

First-time director Jonathan Watson does deliver one legitimately effective scene when DeWitt escapes McBride’s home, only to run through an eerily abandoned cul de sac full of empty houses.  It’s a good scene, but nothing in the next hour or so comes close to topping it.  The constant introduction of unnecessary supporting characters also helps break the tension when it really should be heating up.  I like many of the cast members (everyone from Luke Wilson to David Alan Grier turn up at some point).  It’s just every time the film cuts to their bit of side business it pokes a hole in the suspense.  

Despite the casting of many comedic talents, this is more of a kidnapping-gone-wrong thriller.  I enjoyed seeing McBride turning his usual persona into something a bit more sinister.  Too bad his character is one-note and wears thin after the first half-hour.  It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Kaitlin Olson fares the best as McBride’s ex-wife who wants no part in his schemes.  It’s a shame she doesn’t stick around very long because she could’ve made the stay in Arizona more enjoyable.