The Big Lebowski, Film Review…

Firstly, I love this movie, and can watch it again and again. That being said, here are my thoughts for this most recent viewing.

The Big Lebowski (1998) is a film by the arthouse wunderkind filmmaker brothers, Joel and Ethan Coen (Fargo). They admittedly wanted to create a film that’s a valentine to Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep—which I am currently re-reading—while making some specific, and quite hilarious, changes.

Jeff Bridges (The Fisher King) stars as The Dude, a hapless, unemployed throwback to the groovy 1960s. He spends his days smoking marijuana and drinking White Russians, while his evenings also include these activities plus bowling with his friends Walter (John Goodman, Barton Fink), and Donny (Steve Buscemi, Miller’s Crossing). 

One evening, The Dude’s apartment is broken into by two thugs who give him swirlies and urinate on his favorite rug. "That rug really tied the room together." They keep asking him about money he has no clue about. The Dude’s real name, one that he never uses, is Jeffrey Lebowski. But there’s another Jeffrey Lebowski, a big one, the big one (David Huddleston, Blazing Saddles). 

Soon follows disparate crimes that The Dude is thrust into solving. The Big Lebowski’s trophy wife, (Tara Reid, American Pie), is kidnapped, and a million dollar ransom is demanded. Lebowski’s daughter, Maude, played with a particular joi de vivre by Julianne Moore (Boogie Nights), suspects something amiss with the whole situation, and recruits The Dude into figuring things out. She also has other plans for The Dude. 

Mistaken identity, false crimes, and scandals pepper the plot, but who cares? This film is not about the plot. Nor is it about the setting, Los Angeles in the 1990s. It is about the joy of filmmaking, and everyeone—everyone—appears to have a ball making it. 

Some shots and actor reactions in this film are also quite memorable: The Busby Berkley dream sequence, the POV from inside a rolling bowling ball, Jeff Bridges’s facial expression when he’s dusted with funeral ashes, and I can go on. 

I should also discuss how this film is a valentine to The Big Sleep, which mostly involves character parallels. In both media, there’s a rich disabled elderly man, a daughter with her own agenda, a sleazy pornographer, and a spoiled brat—in the novel it’s the young and wild little sister, while in the film it’s the young and wild trophy wife.

Watch this film. Add it to your re-watch list. You’ll be satisfied with each and every viewing.