The Big Lebowski

More than 20 years it took me to have a look at this cult classic. Finally did it and I do undestand the fuss about it.

Not a flick for everybody that I can tell because a lot of talking is done but it's the talking that starts to get funny after a while. In fact, a bunch of loser trying to solve a abduction and trying to hold the money for themselves goes terribly wrong.

After a while you even want the talking to go on and on. And some art flick here and there it was indeed a hell of a ride, funny, stupid but genious in its kind.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 3/5 Story 4/5 comedy 2/5.

The Coen brothers are up there with my very favorite filmmakers (Scorsese, Kubrick, Carpenter). I am very fond of their work. Throughout their irreverent career, they have explored different subjects and themes. Their best stories evolve from kidnapping schemes in films like "Raising Arizona " and "Fargo", one of my very favorites. I thought that film was fervently free. I was so ever wrong. It's as if the Coen Brothers have celebrated their complete breakthrough success (Academy Award winners), and now are willing to do whatever they please. "The Big Lebowski" is a film so meandering, so wonderfully novel, that I found myself missing the many other sporadic jokes as I was heaving from laughter. The film is basically about mistaken identity, eccentric characters, and a soiled rug. This film extols the bowler, the allies, even the pins. We experience an actual bowling ball POV, as the Dude (Jeff Bridges) hallucinates. This film has nihilists, feminists, millionares, paedophiles, drugged out hippies, underachieving students, incompetent criminals, pornographers and 'Nam veterans. This movie is open to anything , anything... Some people are turned off by absurd looniness, because it's so grandiosely different. Yet who couldn't chuckle, if not explode, when a bowler dressed in a tight purple suit licks a bowling ball's finger hole, and the camera pans down to reveal his name as Jesus! I will disclose no more, but urgently recommend you to traverse to your nearest video abode and rent this true escapists' feature. Abandon all solemn inhibitons, though! One can not keep a straight face whilst watching.

It's actually kind of hard to describe this movie (and what's so great about it) to people who don't already know it and love it; as with many cult films, The Big Lebowski will either speak to you (in which case you will become a fervent follower of His Dudeness and abide by his code for the rest of your life) or, if it doesn't, the film will either leave you completely indifferent or you'll even downright hate it.

I believe it's a very funny film and I'm sure it can be rightfully called a comedy, but don't expect punchlines, gags, jokes or slapstick - it's not that kind of comedy. If you want to enjoy this film, you have to meet Jeffery "The Dude" Lebowski on his terms, hang out with him and his bowling buddies and follow them at a their (perhaps somewhat leisurely) pace through this weird and unbelievable tale about nihilism, theft (of a car and, more importantly: a Creedence Clearwater Revival tape), kidnapping, abstract art, porn and - of course - bowling.

The story is actually kind of simple. You see, some no-good German nihilists urinated on The Dude's rug - and this kind of aggression just won't stand against The Dude. With the help of his bowling buddies, he will do everything in his power to get someone to pay for his rug - or possibly get a new one (because that rug really tied the room together). So he embarks on this worthy quest during which he will encounter many wondrous things and fascinating people (even Jesus - who is NOT the messiah but a very naughty man).

With Jeff Bridges in the leading role, the Coen brothers have found the perfect actor to incorporate one of the most iconic characters that has ever been created. But it's not just The Dude that makes this a winner; the whole film is such an inspired folly and simply inventive filmmaking at its finest (the hilarious dream sequence alone is worth the price of admission). The supporting cast is outstanding (J.Turturro, J.Goodman and S.Buscemi among many others), the song choices are perfect and the dialog is the funniest, most quotable in any comedy I've ever seen. This - for me - is without a doubt the film with the highest rewatchability factor of all time. 10 stars out of 10.

Favorite Films: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls054200841/

Lesser-known Masterpieces: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070242495/

Favorite Low-Budget and B-movies: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls054808375/

Those Coen brothers have an ear for language. You feel it in the sing-songy banalities of Fargo, and in the noiresque machine-gun dialogue of Miller's Crossing, but neither of these can prepare you for the feast for the ears that is The Big Lebowski.

Channeling the opaque mysteries of Raymond Chandler, the Coens throw LA resident bum and Bowling aficionado Jeff Lebowski ("The Dude" to his friends) into a strange triple-crossing case of kidnapping, ransoms, nihilists and urinated-upon rugs. It is the equivalent of throwing unrelenting forces at an immovable object, the Dude's bemused stoicism at constant odds with the world around him. He'd much rather be bowling with crazed Vietnam Vet Walter (John Goodman) and pure silent soul Donnie (Steve Buscemi).

As with so much of the Coens' output, style is more than half the point: not just visual, though ace DP Roger Deakins paints an alluring canvas, but tonal and auditory. This is an insanely funny head-trip of a movie, with wonderfully idiosyncratic characters, down to the smallest part. Who better than the Coens to reinvent the comedy of errors?

This is without a doubt one of their very best, a personal favorite, an unmissable film and the kind of experience that will plant an indelible smile on your face. Do yourself and see this now, if you haven't already.

How can anyone not dig The Dude? In a world where energetic go-getters are idolised and looked up to, it's nice to know that there are fat, indolent, scruffy, pot smoking, beer drinking bums out there taking it easy. Or they would be if people would leave their rugs alone…

The Big Lebowski is a film where the plot is entirely inconsequential; it doesn't matter. It's just a mere device to set The Dude on his way. The joy is in watching him interact with all the weirdos in Los Angeles and in listening to the dialogue – the script is the most quotable since Withnail and I. Therefore it's the perfect film to just sit back and absorb.

Picking a favourite scene in a film that is jam packed with great moments and wonderful lines of dialogue is a near impossibility, but you'd be hard pressed to beat the scene with the Malibu police chief. "I don't like your jerk-off name. I don't like your jerk-off face. I don't like your jerk-off behaviour. And I don't like you…jerk-off." And then to cap it off he throws his mug at The Dude's head. Brilliant! And making it even funnier is the scene that immediately follows it where the taxi driver throws The Dude out of his cab.

But another favourite is Jesus. He only has two scenes but both are hilarious. (I hope the Coens make 'The Passion of the Jesus.') And I love the flashback where you see him knocking on doors to tell his neighbours that he's a pederast. Especially good is the way that a large, bearded man with a dirty shirt answers the door (I always crack up at the breath Jesus takes when he sees the man – I also noticed, for the first time, that Jesus in that flashback is visibly showing in his tight jeans; he's not a small guy).

But then there's the scene where The Dude first meets Maude Lebowski (excellently played by Julianne Moore). "I'm sorry if your stepmother is a nympho, but…" And I also like the little dig at the porno film they're watching: "The plot is ludicrous." But the comment isn't really aimed at the porno film; the film is talking about itself. It knows the plot is nonsensical but it also knows that it doesn't matter – it's best to just let it wash over you.

Mentioning porno has reminded me of Jackie Treehorn. Is there a better visual gag in modern cinema than The Dude scratching a notepad for a message or telephone number only to find a cartoon of a man with a gigantic erection? Well, maybe there is, because even earlier in the film there's the moment where The Dude spends a long time making a homemade device to keep intruders out only for him to forget the fact that his door opens outwards instead of inwards – he nails a bit of wood to the floor, props a chair up to the door handle to keep people out and the very second he walks away, the door opens and the chair comes tumbling down. Pure genius!

And Jackie Treehorn's brainless goons are brilliant too. "You're not dealing with morons here." Oh yes we are. But the film's all the better for it.

But I'm not sure what my favourite line in the film would be – again it's almost impossible to pick just one. But "I still jerk-off manually" would have to be up there, as would virtually every line Walter spews ("The Chinaman is not the issue…"). However, if I was forced (at gunpoint) to choose, I'd have to go with a piece of Dude wisdom: "Fortunately, I'm adhering to a pretty strict, uh, drug regiment to keep my mind, you know, uh, limber." And The Dude's reaction when Maude tells him that she's trying to conceive is magnificent.

Yet another brilliant scene is the Larry scene. Walter and The Dude are trying to get information out of some kid but the kid just stares impassively at them, so Walter destroys his car – or what he thinks is his car. Now at this moment I could quote the real dialogue, but the TV version dialogue is perhaps even better. "Do you see what happens, Larry? Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?" It's even better than: "Fun you, melon farmer!"

Then there are the nihilists. "We believe in nothing, Lebowski. Nothing. And tomorrow we come back and we cut off your johnson." But try as they might to intimidate, the only scary thing about the nihilists is the techno music they listen to. Well, that and their obsession with the male member.

But I could quote lines from The Big Lewbowski all day. I just dig the film so much because it puts a goofy grin on my face; its stupidity is remarkably intelligent. Plus, in the end, it's actually quite heartfelt – if the film's about anything, it's about friendship…well, that and smoking pot, drinking beer, bowling and keeping hold of your johnson. Yeah, the world's a better place with The Dude in it.