This is one of those rare films I will recommend to anybody.
"The Big Lebowski" is brothers Joel and Ethan Coen´s 1998 cult comedy classic. The film features Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore, Tara Reid, Sam Elliott, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Turturro and Peter Stormare. With its familiar cast, solid performances, intelligent brand of humor and a particularly nasty little marmot (a ferret in marmot´s clothing, actually), "The Big Lebowski" may very well be the finest film from the powerful duo of brothers. "Barton Fink," "O Brother Where Art Thou?," "Raising Arizona" and "Fargo" are all solid films with a strong fanbase, but compared to this movie featuring a main character who prefers to walk around in a bathrobe and be referred to simply as "The Dude," "The Big Lebowski" is a film that can be watched time and time again with great enjoyment.
Jeff Bridges is Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski. He is an unemployed, drug-loving man who loves to bowl and listen to the sound of bowling pins being struck as he lies on his carpet in the middle of his poorly furnished home. One day his world is set in ruin when a band of thugs rough him up and ask him where a large sum of money is. In a case of mistaken identity, the men urinate on the Dude´s carpet and leave him at the beginning of a series of events that will only pull him deeper and deeper into a case of kidnapping and extortion where the Dude is through to be the wealthy Jeff Lebowski (David Huddleson). The wealthy Lebowski´s young prize wife Bunny (Tara Reid) has gone missing and more than one group of men seems to be looking for either Bunny or the money. All the Dude wants is for somebody to pay for the piss damage on a rug that really tied his place together.
The Dude searches out the wealthier Lebowski and the Dude is asked to deliver a case of money to the men who claim to have Bunny kidnapped. The Dude looks to his friends and bowling partners to help him out. Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) is a Vietnam veteran who seems to believe everything is tied to the bloodshed in Vietnam and Sobchak is a loose cannon who thinks nothing of pulling a gun out and threatening his bowling opponents. Donny Kerabatsos (Steve Buscemi) is the third member of the team and overly naïve and a great bowler. The Dude is also searched out by the wealthy Lebowski´s daughter Maude (Julianne Moore), whom detests her stepmother and believes that Bunny is behind the kidnapping and trying to take her mother´s money from her father. A group of nihilists (Peter Stormare, Flea and Torsten Voges) are posing as Bunny´s kidnappers and use any means necessary to get the money from the Dude.
It doesn´t take long until the Dude becomes involved in various levels of insanity. His mild tempered and even-keeled world retains some amount of control, but everybody around the Dude does not seem to understand that he just wants his rug replaced and doesn´t particularly care about much else. The narrator (Sam Elliott) gets it. The fiercely competitive Jesus (John Turtorro) does not worry about Walter´s tempter or the Dude´s rug and only wants to win the league championship. Maude wants the Dude to impregnate her, but to have no other ties than providing sperm. Walter wants to keep the money from the case and Donny just wants to be heard for a moment and not told to shut up. The nihilists want the money and they want to castrate the Dude.
With so much going on, the Coen brothers need to be commended for their slick and intelligent storytelling. The story is so absurd and many of the underlying plots are brilliantly understated yet so important to the main storyline and eventual events that will unfold. There are a number of sight gags and mistaken animal identities throughout the film. A ferret is called a marmot and a terrier stands in as a Pomeranian. The Coen brothers include a number of references to their past films and there is symbolism throughout the film. Just before Donny´s untimely fate, he misses his first strike and a moment of horror comes across his face. In a nod to their previous film "Fargo," Buscemi´s character is constantly told to shut up. With so many little things hidden in the film, "The Big Lebowski" is one of those rare films that is rewarding with each additional viewing.
A lot of credit must be given to the wonderful cast. Buscemi, Goodman and Turtorro are well loved by the Coen Brothers and have been used previously by the filmmakers. This is for good reason, as all three men are great actors and their character turns in "The Big Lebowski" show why the Coens consistently have them return to their projects. Jeff Bridges is especially noteworthy as the Dude. This film would not be the cult classic if it were not for the easy-going demeanor seen on-screen by Bridges. Uli Kunkel is a cult character and veteran character actor Peter Stormare steals each scene in which he is involved. Combined with the excellent and well-crafted story, the character actors and their performances weave together a tale that has earned the film its current Top 250 berth on the Internet Movie Database. It is also a film that should earn a position on any film collector´s shelf.
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[release]20757[/release]