The Big Lebowski (1998)

Director: Joel Coen

Story: Joel and Ethan Coen

Cast: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore

Music: Carter Burwell

Time: 117 minutes

Bottom-line: You’ll be rolling over laughing in no time!

The Coens make their second comedy film following Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski. Starring Jeff Bridges – in one of his most iconic roles – John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi and David Huddleston, the film is infamous for having no plot at all, but has become a classic in the comedy genre.

 

(From left) Bridges as The Dude, Buscemi as
Donny and Goodman as Walter

1991, LA: Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski (Bridges) is a slacker who regularly hangs out at the bowling alley with his friends, Walter (Goodman) and Donny (Buscemi). Walter is an extremely short-tempered, foul-mouthed Vietnam war veteran, and Donny is timid and shy. The Dude is attacked by two goons at his house, who claim that his wife owes money to a porn magnate; they also urinate on his rug. The Dude finds out that there exists another man with the same name: Jeff “The Big” Lebowski (Huddleston) – a cantankerous millionaire – to whom he goes to get a new rug (and later steals one!). Things get complicated when Lebowski’s wife is kidnapped, and he hires The Dude to deliver the ransom, but Walter decides to dupe Lebowski and the kidnappers and keep the million-dollar ransom. The Dude later meets Lebowski’s daughter, Maude (Moore), who says that the kidnapping is a scheme by Lebowski himself. Whose money has gone where, and who is the target?

Huddleston as "The Big" Lebowski

 From creating a religion called “Dudeism” to having African spider species being named after the characters, to designing meme templates, the film’s cultural impact is huge. Despite mixed reviews initially, the film has then achieved cult status. Jeff Bridges is hilarious in his portrayal of the laziest person on the planet, with his constant drunkenness and carefree attitude. John Goodman’s role is the comic version of Joe Pesci’s Tommy DeVito. Using a cuss word in every sentence, his insanely violent behaviour and anger provide a lot of humour. Of course, Walter’s character is the one responsible for the domino effect of events that happen to The Dude.

 

Moore as Maude

The eclectic soundtrack is another highlight, not something that the Coens employ in their other films. The cinematography by Roger Deakins is also brilliant, particularly the dream sequences with a lot of fantasy imagery and effects. This is the first film to use the point-of-view technique from inside a rolling ball. The last half hour of the movie makes absolutely no sense, or if they do make sense, then the film so far, doesn’t. The cowboy who talks directly to the camera before the closing credits just gives us an idea of the future of the characters, but himself admits that he has lost track of events. The plot twists, however, give us something to look out for, all the way.

 

The meme template inspired by this film

But this is a film to be enjoyed for its idiosyncrasies, its lunatic characters and dialogues. From the character intros, to the comic mix-ups, to the insults, it’s non-stop humour, and there’s no compromise on that. While the cursing might be a little hard on the ears, the hysterical visuals will get you laughing in no time. That’s the only take away from The Big Lebowski.      

My Rating: 3.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 81%