Review: The Big Lebowski (1998)
Chuck Dowling
THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)
Reviewed by Chuck Dowling
Copyright 1998 - The Jacksonville Film Journal
URL:http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/
Cast: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, David
Huddleston, John Turturro, Sam Elliott, Peter Stormare, Flea, Ben Gazarra,
Phillip Seymore Hoffman, Tara Reid
Written by: Joel and Ethan Coen
Directed by: Joel Coen
Running Time: 119 minutes
My Rating: ***** out of *****
After critic Gene Siskel saw the Coen brothers' 1996 film "Fargo" he
remarked that he would not see a better picture that year. I thought that
was a pretty bold statement considering how early in the year the film was
released. Well, here it is the first week of March, the Coen brothers
have released their latest film "The Big Lebowski," and I have to say, in
the words of Gene Siskel: I will not see a better film this year.
To describe the plot of "The Big Lebowski" would be pointless, as it's
just not something able to be described. Jeff Bridges plays Jeff Lebowski
aka "The Dude," a hippie who gets mixed up in a case of mistaken identity
with a millionaire (David Huddleston), also named Jeff Lebowski. What
follows includes kidnapping, ransom, auto theft, bowling, musical dance
numbers, former german rock stars, bad pornography, and more comedy than
ten movies usually have.
The Coen brothers, responsible for such wondeful motion pictures as
"Fargo," "The Hudsucker Proxy," "Raising Arizona," "Barton Fink," and
"Blood Simple" always succeed in creating their own little universe on the
movie screen, and with "The Big Lebowski" they certainly succeed again.
How they have managed to maintain their creative filmmaking and
storytelling abilities, and now manage to TOP all their previous works is
beyond me. But I am so glad that they have.
I usually try to avoid grand, sweeping statements when I write reviews,
but in the case of "The Big Lebowski" I just can't help it. Without a
doubt, "The Big Lebowski" is the funniest film I have ever seen. For the
entire running time of the film, I was constantly laughing. Yes, that's
right. I laughed for 119 minutes. Never once during the 1am screening I
attended did I glance at my watch, and not once did I yawn or take my eyes
off the screen. While the film ran I never wanted it to end, and when it
was over I wanted them to run it again. If I was to give out the Oscars,
acting awards would go to all involved (particularly Bridges, Goodman, and
Buscemi, who's dialogue and chemistry with one another is fantastic),
along with awards for writing, directing, production design, music...
everything. And a note to the Coen brothers: I want a sequel. I want
more of these characters, and I want it as soon as possible.
Now I realize that comedy is a tricky thing, and that everyone has a
slightly different sense of humor. And the comedy in "The Big Lebowski"
isn't necessarily jokes, set-ups, and punch lines. It's dialogue and
attitudes, much like the comedic elements of "Pulp Fiction".
Certainly some of you will see the film and afterwards think that I am
completely insane. So here's a little test to help you see if you'll go
along with the comedy of the film. In the early seconds of the film, The
Dude writes a check for a ridiculously low amount of money, something like
$.68. I found that to be absolutely hilarious. If you would too, then
"The Big Lebowski" is right up your alley. It's the best film of the year
so far, and I seriously doubt there will be anything better. [R]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Jacksonville Film Journal -- Film Reviews by Chuck Dowling
URL: http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/ Email: chuc...@leading.net
© 1995-1998 of The Jacksonville Film Journal. No reviews may be reprinted
without permission.
Brandon Stahl
You're inside bowling ball, rolling down the lane. Up and down, up
and down, not sure why you're there. The only thing you are sure
about is you're on a drug trip. What happens when you hit the pins?
"The Big Lebowski" for all intents and purposes, is an insane movie.
It's filled with a laundry list of weird and discpicable characters,
has an even longer line of plot twists, and just for fun, a couple of
dream sequences (or drug trips, however you'd like to call them) are
thrown in. At the end of the film you realize that you're left with
memorable scenes, but not a memorable movie.
At the center of "The Big Lebowski" is " the Dude" or Jeff Lawbowski,
the "laziest man in the world" played by Jeff Daniels. The movie
opens with this description of him: "Sometimes there is man, and he's
a man for his time and place. And that's the dude." And that man has
no job, but has an unlimited supply of drinks and drugs and enough
left over to pay rent on a nice aparment. He writes checks for
$0.79 and he bowls. His only identifiction is a Ralph's grocery
card.
The Dude.
I've always enjoyed the Coen's films because they are, if nothing
else, original and inventive. Here, they've tried so hard to be
original that they've created a lot of ideas, but not much of a movie
to hold them together. The plot moves along like an episode of
Seinfeld on crack. It goes something like this: The Dude is mistaken
as another Lewbowski (played by Charles Durning) by two thugs who want
money.
To show that they mean business, the thugs urinate on the Dude's rug
(which, as he says, "just held the room together). The Dude wants a
new rug from the other Lebowski, who is paralyzed, happens to be a
wealthy tycoon. Said Tycoon tells him no, but later summons him back
to his mansion so the Dude can help him recover his kidnapped daughter
(because he thinks that the same men who kidnapped his daugther also
urinated on the Dude's rug), the Dude agrees, but lets his insane
bowling partner help him out. The bowling partner (played by John
Goodman) screws up the plan and instead of trading money for the
daugther, the partner just gives the kidnappers his dirty underwear.
That's just the first 30 minutes. On second thought, it's more like a
soap opera on crack. You never guess where you're going next, but
then, you don't really care. Did I like "The Big Lebowski"? No. But
that doesn't mean others won't. It has the right kind of humor and
story to develop a cult following (like most Coen movies) but this one
didn't entertain me. Maybe I was looking for more of a story rather
that two hours of characters that are in serious need of a
psychiatrist.
"The Big Lebowski" (** and a half out of four stars) A movie written,
produced and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Starring Jeff Daniels,
John Goodman, Julianne Moore, and Peter Huddleston
Mike Cameron
THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)
A film review by Mike Cameron
Director: Joel Coen
Writers: Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, David Huddleston, Julianne Moore,
Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tara Reid, Flea,
John Turturro, David Thewlis, Ben Gazzara, Sam Elliott.
Release date: March 6, 1998
It seems, perhaps out of what is, by now at least,a force of habit, that
people have a tendency to define a generation, or more aptly, an era by
decades. Baby Boomers: The 60's. The Disco Era: The 70's. GenX/Cheesy Pop
Synth Music/British New Wave Era: The 80's, also refered to as the me
decade. So, we are now in the 90's, which will be over in a few years, and
what will call this decade? So far, we have a generation defined of this
era, Slackers.
Now, this is not to say that the Cohen boys are Slackers by any means.
They have created some of the most entertaining films of the past 10+ years,
and achieved world-wide fame and glory, public and critical success and
praise with "Fargo." Their follow-up "The Big Lebowski" is more closely
related to their previous efforts, "Raising Arizona" and "The Hudsucker
Proxy." What they present is a somewhat dis-jointed collection of oddball
characters that drift in and out of a losely structured film.
The lead character, one Jeff Lebowski, is a jobless, slightly shiftless
layabout, meandoring through life in LA in the early 1990's, who prefers to
be called The Dude. He is mistaken one fateful evening by some low rent
thugs for another Jeff Lebowski, The Big Lebowski (David Huddleston) who's
wife has apparently ran up quite a tab with a local pornographer. To drive
home their point, they urinate on his rug. He then goes to the home The Big
Lebowski looking for compensation, is refuted, scams a rug from The Big
Lebowski's assistant (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), meets the wife in question,
Bunny (Tara Reid) and her drunken nihilist boyfriend (Peter Stormare) on his
way out.
This leads the way for The Dude's involvment kidnap scheme involving
Bunny, that is alot more complicated than it should be, at least when The
Dude's friend/bowling partner Walter (John Goodman) becomes involved. What
follows are the introduction of many weird characters, including Julianne
Moore as Maude, The Big Lebowski's estranged avant-gaurde artist daughter,
who has more than a passing interest in The Dude, Steve Buscemi as Donnie,
the third partner in The Dude's bowling leauge, who is contantly having
trouble keeping up with conversations and being to shut up and Ben Gazzara
and the pornographer who may or may not have had Bunny abducted. These
characters, along with hilarious cameos by John Turturro as a bowling
pedophile named Jesus, Sam Elliot as The Stranger, who pops-up, as well as
narrarates the story, intermittently, and Daved Thewlis as a John
Waters-esque friend of Maude.
All of these characters, along with the abuse suffered by The Dude's
car, make the plot inconsquental by comparison. In fact, what appears to
the main plot, Bunny's kidnapping, is wrapped in such a lazy "Aha! So the
real cuprit is..." fashion, that it's almost ant-climatic when it is
revealed. But again, the plot takes a back seat to the characters and what
the movie is really about.
And what is that? Well, take a look in the time period in which the
movie is set. I believe that the Cohen's choose the early 90's for a
specific reason. We were coming out one already pre-defined decade and into
a new, shapeless era. The Slackers were taking over, and the Baby Boomers
were following their lead. We were a people, much like The Dude, with no
driving force behind us, since no one had yet to tell us what were or what
we going to be. Coming out of The Me Decade, we just didn't care about too
much else except that me factor, and although political correctness hadn't
quite taken over, we could see it was on it was way, well, we had better
take it easy while we could. Even the "plot" , with it's lazy, generic
"twist," seems as if it was pulled right out of a late 80's/early 90's tv
Perry Mason movie.
So, the Cohen brothers take look at our culture, makes fun of
it/us/themelves, and manage to make a highlt entertainingmovie all at the
same time. Because even if you don't "get it," they've managed to put
enough off-the-wall scenarios to al least keep you wondering excatly what
they are going to come up with next. I mean, after all, excalty how long
can that car last, anyway?
Rating:
Thumbs up/ ***1/2 (out of ****)/ A
David Sunga
THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)
Rating: 2 stars (out of 4.0)
********************************
Key to rating system:
2.0 stars - Debatable
2.5 stars - Some people may like it
3.0 stars - I liked it
3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie
4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out
*********************************
A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: Joel Coen
Written by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi
Ingredients:
Hippie, eccentric bowling pals, kidnapping plot
Synopsis:
This comedy is about a dope-smoking alcoholic beach bum nicknamed 'the
Dude' (Jeff Bridges). The Dude visits millionaire Jeff Lebowski to talk
about a damaged rug, but Mr. Lebowski gets a wild idea and hires the
Dude as a courier. Lebowski's wife Bunny has just been kidnapped, and
Lebowski needs a guy to drop off the ransom.
Lebowsky gives the Dude a briefcase to drop off, but unfortunately, it
gets stolen. This leads to a situation where various people come to
punch the Dude's lights out: the angry millionaire Lebowski; Lebowski's
eccentric artist daughter Maude and her thugs; a gang of violent German
musicians, and; a pornography mogul gangster whom Bunny owes money to.
Aiding the Dude in his quest for peace are two bowling buddies: an
unstable Vietnam veteran named Walter (John Goodman), and a nerd Donny
(Steve Buscemi) who is never allowed to speak his opinion. Will the Dude
guess what happened to Bunny and the money?
Opinion:
Unlike FARGO, which was also directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, THE BIG
LEBOWSKI is a comedy. Basically, the plot is long and pointless as it
takes a backstage to laughs. The film is little more than a showcase for
a continual parade of oddities. For example, the Dude is always wasted
and is hung up on nihilism. Walter is always quoting Vietnam and is big
on Judaism. Maude zooms across the ceiling naked wearing a harness. John
Turturro shows up as a convicted pedophile turned bowler. And so on. The
actors really ham it up. Some parts are funny, but overall the movie
tends to drag.
Reviewed by David Sunga
March 7, 1998
Copyright © 1998
This review and others like it can be found at
THE CRITIC ZOO: http://www.criticzoo.com
email: zook...@criticzoo.com
David Dalgleish
THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)
"All The Dude ever wanted was his rug back."
3 out of ****
Starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore
Directed by Joel Coen
Written by Joel & Ethan Coen
Cinematography by Roger Deakins
The Coen brothers make two kinds of movies. The first kind are
idiosyncratic takes on established Hollywood genres: BLOOD SIMPLE,
MILLER'S CROSSING, THE HUDSUCKER PROXY. The second kind are just
plain idiosyncratic: dark comedies which can only be described as
Coen-esque, and represent their best work (RAISING ARIZONA, BARTON
FINK, FARGO). Their latest effort, THE BIG LEBOWSKI, belongs in the
latter category, in that it is a non-generic dark comedy (unless
KINGPIN-meets-EXCESS BAGGAGE is a genre)--but it is not one of their
better efforts.
Jeff Bridges stars as Jeff Lebowski, aka The Dude, Duder, or, if
you're not into the brevity thing, El Duderino. He's a pretty simple
L.A. guy with a pretty simple life: he's unemployed, he smokes pot,
and League Bowling is his first priority. He bowls with opinionated,
borderline-psychotic Vietnam vet Walter (John Goodman) and dimwitted
Donny (Steve Buscemi). But the Dude's simple life is complicated when
two men burst into his apartment, dunk his head in the toilet, ask him
to cough up a lot of money which he doesn't have, then urinate on his
rug when he can't help them. It turns out that these men were looking
for another Jeffrey Lebowski (David Huddleston), this one a
millionaire, and when The Dude goes to the other Lebowski's mansion to
get his rug replaced, he is soon embroiled in a complex plot involving
a kidnapping, a botched ransom exchange, a severed toe, a nymphomaniac
porn starlet (Tara Reid), some neo-Nazis, a flaky New Age feminist
(Julianne Moore), and malicious law enforcement officials.
THE BIG LEBOWSKI is certainly idiosyncratic, but there is a sense of
strain about it. It's cluttered with contrived attempts to be
original and offbeat: there's a man in an iron lung, a philosophizing
character called The Stranger (Sam Elliot), an elaborate
dream-sequence production number. By trying so hard, it comes across
as forced; the Coens' vision is naturally skewed, and by pushing it
they needlessly call attention to that fact.
There is a lot wrong with the movie, but since it's a comedy, the
fundamental issue is this: is it funny? The humour is irreverent in
the extreme: death, pornography, child abuse, and disabled people are
treated purely as sources of humour. Some people in our PC 90s will
doubtless object to this material on principle; my feeling is that if
it's funny, it doesn't matter how offensive it is--when something's
not funny, that's when I start to feel offended. Fortunately, THE BIG
LEBOWSKI is very funny, and that is its saving grace. Bridges wins a
lot of laughs as the hapless, laidback everyman thrown into an
absurdist nightmare and unable to extricate himself; Goodman is
wonderful as his headstrong best friend whose well-intentioned
interference just makes matters worse and worse.
The other characters, however, exist only because they're funny, not
because the script is particularly interested in them (most notably
Julianne Moore's Maude), and the plot is a grab-bag of ideas, many of
them inspired, but thrown together in a slapdash way. The movie lacks
any sense of coherence, and while all the actors are great, several
are wasted in minor roles: John Turturro has fun with a manically
over-the-top character, stealing his scenes, but David Thewlis and Jon
Polito have only walk-on parts, mildly amusing but unnecessary, while
Buscemi is woefully underused. The dialogue is refreshing because it
allows the characters to talk in a roundabout, unhurried, verbose way,
but frustrating because it takes them an awful long time to get to the
point.
The Coen brothers have taken pride, through the years, in doing
things their own distinctive way--they confound expectations--but here
that strategy has backfired. For many people (myself included) FARGO
signalled the Coens' arrival as filmmakers: they had fulfilled their
potential, and their next movie was expected to be great. But it
seems that they have deliberately set out to not make a great movie in
THE BIG LEBOWSKI, confounding the critics once again. It is an
extravagant entertainment, but shallow and ultimately pointless.
Considered as a self-contained work, it is good; in the context of the
Coens' career and their considerable talent, it is a disappointment.
A Review by David Dalgleish (March 6/98)
Christopher Null
. THE BIG LEBOWSKI
A film review by Christopher Null
Copyright 1998 Christopher Null
It bears repeating: Just because you happen to make an amazing,
perfectly-crafted, wildly funny movie (FARGO), doesn't mean you can do
whatever the hell you want in your follow-up and pass it off as art.
THE BIG LEBOWSKI is the definitive answer to skeptics like me who
wondered if FARGO was the fluke, and ho-hum flicks like THE HUDSUCKER PROXY
and RAISING ARIZONA were more the norm for the Coen brothers. They
undoubtedly are. In THE BIG LEBOWSKI, the Coens had the world to play with
as a palette. What they delivered is a wreck.
The story, what little there is of one, follows Jeff "The Dude"
Lebowski (Bridges), a bum/amateur bowler who gets caught up in a
kidnapping-gone-wrong scheme involving a millionaire who happens to have the
same name. Promising premise (even if it sounds familiar...), but the story
is totally blown on one-dimensional goofball characters, blind side plots
that go nowhere, and a meandering plotline that barely keeps you awake.
Sure, with characters like Goodman's Vietnam vet/wacked-out bowling
buddy, Moore's new age "vaginal" artist, and, most memorably, John
Turturro's minuscule role as Jesus, the most flamboyant bowler alive, there
is plenty to be amused by in the film, and sometimes it's absolutely
riotous. But the laughs are hollow... because the story just sits there
like a 7-10 split.
I wish the Coens the best, but they're going to have to do better than
this. I know they can.
RATING: ***
|------------------------------|
\ ***** Perfection \
\ **** Good, memorable film \
\ *** Average, hits and misses \
\ ** Sub-par on many levels \
\ * Unquestionably awful \
|------------------------------|
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Joel Coen
Producer: Ethan Coen
Writer: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, Peter
Stormare
-Christopher Null / nu...@sirius.com / Writer-Producer
-Visit the Movie Emporium at http://www.filmcritic.com
Scott Renshaw
THE BIG LEBOWSKI
(Gramercy)
Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi,
Screenplay: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen.
Producer: Ethan Coen.
Director: Joel Coen.
MPAA Rating: R (profanity, nudity, adult themes, drug use)
Running Time: 115 minutes.
Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
God bless the Coen brothers, the film critic's best friends. While
the grinding predictability of most American films challenges a writer to
generate one more coherent thought than the film itself, Coen efforts like
MILLER'S CROSSING, BARTON FINK and FARGO burst from the screen like
doctoral theses waiting to be written, sending cinema scribes scrambling
gleefully for a thesaurus. The bizarre supporting characters pinwheeling
through their films could be glossed as metaphorical proto-fascists or
subversions of traditional genre types; their apparently
stream-of-conscious narratives could reveal clockwork structure. Oh, what
happy hours could be spent fine tuning analyses fit for literary journals
as we hurtled towards our deadlines.
I spent most of the car ride home from THE BIG LEBOWSKI -- and a fair
chunk of time afterward -- spelunking for themes, tropes and symbols. The
time frame of Gulf War-era 1991 was certainly meant to place the story
squarely in the twilight of the Reagan/Bush go-go 1980s. The backbone of
the plot, meanwhile, found inveterate 40-something layabout stoner Jeff
"The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) and his blustering Vietnam-vet pal
Walter (John Goodman) mixed up in a convoluted kidnapping plot after the
Dude is mistaken for _another_ Jeff Lebowski (David Huddleston), this one
a wealthy philanthropist with a debt-ridden former porno star (Tara Reid)
for a trophy wife. Mix in the "Big" Lebowski's feminist avant-garde
artiste daughter Maude (Julianne Moore), ironic allusions to political
correctness and a few swipes at the boot-straps rhetoric of the
well-to-do, and clearly you have a satire of the ordinary Joe (or Jeff)
unwittingly fighting to make the world safe for Republicanism. Right?
It was so much fun deconstructing THE BIG LEBOWSKI after the fact
that I started trying to convince myself I had had as much fun watching
it. The reason it's not more fun, despite a blissful singularity of
vision which always keeps you watching, is that the Coens seem to take the
same approach to making their films that we critics take to analyzing
them. They're not stories as much as they are intellectual and aesthetic
calistheics, films which make you work hard enough that you have to
convince yourself you're getting something out of them. Joel and Ethan's
encyclopedic knowledge of genre conventions and film expectations allow
them to understand exactly when to yank the rug, but in THE BIG LEBOWSKI
they fall into the same trap which hampered THE HUDSUCKER PROXY: they
create so much distance from the characters that you're left with
congratulating yourself because you got the joke.
If you're willing to surrender yourself to the Coens' characteristic
oddball flourishes, you certainly won't walk away from THE BIG LEBOWSKI
disgusted. Second-tier Coen fare is still better than most of what's
out there; it's hard not to take some pleasure in a film which includes
among its antagonists a trio of marmot-wielding nihilists, or clothes a
meek bowling buddy named Donny (Steve Buscemi) in a succession of bowling
shirts bearing every possible name _but_ Donny. Jeff Bridges also has
great fun as The Dude, trying to wrap his fried brain around "clues" as he
attempts to figure out exactly what's going on. It's just disappointing
watching the Coens retreat into layers of irony once you've seen what
happens in a film like FARGO when they're willing to humanize their
phenomenal film-making talent. As undeniably amusing as many of THE BIG
LEBOSWKI's oddball flourishes are, the film is almost nothing _but_
oddball flourishes, wandering along with a theme or two in tow. Bad news
for those in search of accessible comedy; good news, as always, for those
who work at finding oddball flourishes and well-disguised social
commentary.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 Dude drops: 6.
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Mike Cameron
Nathaniel R. Atcheson
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Director: Joel Coen
Cast: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, Peter
Stormare, David Huddleston
Screenplay: Joel & Ethan Coen
Producer: Ethan Coen
Runtime: 117 min.
US Distribution: PolyGram/Gramercy
Rated R: Language, drugs, sex, violence
By Nathaniel R. Atcheson (na...@pyramid.net)
The Coen brothers are strange. If their films reflect their
personalities in any way, I probably wouldn't be terribly interested in
meeting them, not because I wouldn't like them, but because I would fear
them. That's okay--chances have it I'll never meet them. I'll continue
to watch their films, though, and probably continue to enjoy them.
The Big Lebowski fits nicely into that Coen style, a mold in which they
amalgamate original humor with violence and high numbers of expletives.
At the same time, the film is essentially pointless. I find this to be
a strong point. It's occasionally nice to see a movie that doesn't
force feed a Deep Meaning, but simply forces viewers to pay attention
because it's jam-packed with pop-culture references and bowling jokes.
Wait, now that I think about it, The Big Lebowski features a deeply
complex bowling motif.
Jeff Bridges stars as a man named Jeff Lebowski, but he goes as The
Dude. The Dude is an unemployed loser (for lack of a more concise
word). He does bowl, though, and presumably he is very good. He bowls
with his friends, Walter (John Goodman) and Donny (Steve Buscemi). The
first scene of the film places the Dude in a situation in which he is
roughed up by a couple of thugs looking for a man named Lebowski. The
Dude quickly explains that they have the wrong man, but it's too late:
they have already urinated on his Oriental rug.
Irate (or, as irate as the Dude can get), he heads to meet this
Lebowski (the Big Lebowski, played by David Huddleston). The Dude
demands that his carpet is replaced. And...
Wow, I could just go on and on. The story unravels so quickly, and
there are so many developments that I don't know where to stop summing
it up and end the paragraph with "It goes on from there." It's all
about the consequences the Dude faces just because he wanted his rug
replaced.
It's entertaining and engaging all the way through because there are a
lot of well-drawn characters. The Dude, for instance, played with
wonderful indifference by Bridges, is easily the most interesting
washout I've ever seen. He always has a dumbfounded look on his
dim-witted face, even when he gets splashed with paint and toilet
water. I don't think he utters more than one or two original thoughts
in the entire film; most of his dialogue is in reflection of the ongoing
destruction of his car.
John Goodman, in just over two months, has now appeared in four films
this year. Miraculously, I'm not sick of him yet--I suppose this
proves, to some extent, that he can change enough from film to film that
I don't grow tired of his antics. He utilizes the f-word very well
here, and seems perfectly fit to play a Vietnam vet who ain't afraid of
nothin'. Julianne Moore, who needs to be in every film, is wonderful
here as the Big Lebowski's somehow-British feminist daughter, Maude. We
get the feeling she adopted the British accent because she thought it
was cool, and wanted to project the coolness in her voice.
And there is the usual array of colorful cameo characters. John
Turturro is disturbingly amusing as a purple-clad pederastic (is that a
word?) bowling freak named Jesus (that's Gee-zus, not Hey-soos). David
Thewlis has a juicy two-line cameo as a girly friend of Maude's. Steve
Buscemi gets cursed at a lot by Goodman. And Sam Elliott shows up a
couple of times to brief us on the state of the characters, and to
provide a few closing thoughts.
Coen films work because, even at their most ridiculous moments, they
still convey hints of realism. I never doubted that any of the
ludicrous things happening on screen could actually happen in real
life. I didn't care much for the excessively-strange dream sequences,
but in a film this over-the-top, I can accept it to go a little further
over the top. The Big Lebowski is a funny, entertaining movie. And,
like I said, it has no point. What makes a pointless Coen film
different from the average pointless film, however, is that the chances
are you'll remember the Coen film for quite a while, even if it is just
to figure out what that damn bowling metaphor means.
*** out of ****
(7/10, B)
**********/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\************
Visit FILM PSYCHOSIS at
http://www.pyramid.net/natesmovies
Nathaniel R. Atcheson
**********/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\************
Chad Polenz
The Big Lebowski
Chad'z rating: **** (out of 4 = excellent)
1998, R, 117 minutes [1 hour, 57 minutes]
[comedy/satire/mystery]
starring: Jeff Bridges (Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski), John Goodman (Walter),
Julianne Moore (Maude Lebowski), Steve Buscemi (Donny); written by Joel and
Ethan Coen; produced by Ethan Coen; directed by Joel Coen.
Seen March 5, 1998 at 7:30 p.m. at the Crossgates Mall Cinema 18 (Guilderland,
NY), theater #2, by myself, for free using a promotional advanced screening
pass. [Theater rating: ****: excellent picture, sound, and seats]
Perhaps one of the greatest feelings one can experience while watching a film
is realizing how complex the story is and yet how easy it is to follow. It
takes a lot of effort and craftsmanship to construct a screenplay and film it
in such a way as to give the viewer this experience, therefore it's no
surprise "The Big Lebowski," which epitomizes this concept, is delivered to us
by veteran filmmakers Ethan and Joel Coen.
From film to film the Coen brothers never fail to top themselves by making
their stories more bizarre and/or complicated, and yet still very enjoyable.
Just describing the basic elements that make up this film would prove this
idea as it manages to combine bowling, kidnapping, two wars, sadomasochist
art, pornography, washed-up rock stars, and many other things. But what's most
amazing is the fact the film is essentially a straight comedy, and yet an
intricate web of mystery, all strung together through a script chiseled to
perfection.
Jeff Bridges stars as Jeffrey Lebowski - an L.A. roundabout who always seems
to be in his pajamas, whether he's bowling at the local lanes or smoking weed
in his apartment (that's about all he does). Lebowski hates his name and
prefers to be called "The Dude," and calls everyone else "Man," just like a
hippies (apparently, he hasn't been able to get over the 1960s). The film's
first joke perfectly establishes his character in just a few moments time as
we see him buy a quart of half & half at the supermarket by writing a check
for $0.68.
Within a matter of minutes a conflict and plot are quickly thrown into the
mix as The Dude is mistaken for another Lebowski by slow-witted bookies who
have mistaken him for a millionaire by the same name (hence the film's title).
When one of the thugs "soils" his rug a hilarious scene of dialogue between
The Dude, and his raving Vietnam vet friend Walter (Goodman) and always-two-
steps-behind friend Donnie (Buscemi) ensues. Immediately the atmosphere of
minute details is present as we are able to get a reading on these characters
and their situations through their conversations alone. Bridges is great, but
it is Goodman who is surprisingly affective here - always making for comedy
simply through attitude, not one-liners or slapstick.
Soon the plot becomes complicated as The Dude get mixed up in the kidnapping
of The Big Lebowski's wife, as he is asked to deliver the money to the
kidnappers, but his efforts are hindered when Walter decides to help him out.
>From this point on the story keeps twisting and turning and never ceases to
surprise us in where it goes. Things never go according to plan in crime
movies, especially crime comedies, and The Dude is thrown from one strange
situation to another.
If ever there was an example of the genus to this film's script, and to the
Coens in general, it would be how the film transitions itself from conflict to
conflict and even scene to scene. At no point in the film is it possible to
predict where it will go next, even the aforementioned examples of plot
devices would not act as spoilers. And what's most amazing is not just that
said examples could be used together, but that they are done so in such
original, enjoyable manners that anything less extraordinary would seem
incorrect.
But it is not just the terrific scripting to the film that makes it great, it
is its comedic elements and outstanding acting which executes the script
flawlessly. Bridges and Goodman are both outstanding as they never kill their
character's personalities even when they say and do the same things over and
over again. Both are able to turn generic slapstick bits and the occasional
one-liners into fresh forms of comedy.
"The Big Lebowski" is a film so grand on every level, it's almost frustrating
in trying to evaluate it for fear of over-looking elements. Still, it is
filmmaking at its best as every subplot, every scene, even every individual
line of dialogue and camera angle have meaning here, absolutely nothing is
wasted nor gratuitous.
Steve Rhodes
THE BIG LEBOWSKI
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ***
THE BIG LEBOWSKI, the Coen brothers' latest cornucopia of colorful
characters, shares more with their earlier 1987 movie, RAISING ARIZONA,
than their recent Oscar sensation, FARGO. A zany comedy about a hippie
bowler and his bowling buddies covers the cinematic map. Mixing
everything from a million-dollar ransom of an ex-porn actress to
bowlers dressed in horned-Wagnerian costumes and dancing in Busby
Berkeley-style choreography, the Coen brothers leave few topics
untouched. Although the dream sequences are by far and away its high
points, the film does devote some energy to sketching the outlines of a
plot. But if you demand a strong narrative drive and characters who
are more than just loony, this probably isn't the picture for you.
It all starts when The Dude, played with a freeze-dried hippie
look by a perfectly cast Jeff Bridges, gets attacked by a bunch of
Germans, who are either Nazis or Nihilists. It seems his wife Bunny
(Tara Reid) owes money to some pretty unsavory characters who want it
back now, or they'll use his rug for a toilet.
There's only one problem, he doesn't have a wife. He does,
however, have a real name, Jeff Lebowski, which unfortunately is shared
by a filthy rich but chintzy guy, who goes by the name of The Big
Lebowski (David Huddleston). And the worst part of The Dude's tale of
woe is that all this happens during his prime bowling season.
The perpetually unemployed Dude, with his wardrobe of thrift-shop
castoffs, has reached a point in his life when he is content to wile
away his time hanging out with his buddies, Walter and Donny, at the
lanes. Walter, played to the hilt by John Goodman from THE BORROWERS,
is an ex-Vietnam vet who sees everything as somehow related to his time
in Nam. Go over the foul line and not admit it, and he's pulling out
his gun. Steve Buscemi, last seen in THE WEDDING SINGER, plays Donny,
a guy who can't get a word in edgewise.
The Big Lebowski calls on The Dude to be the bagman when Bunny
gets kidnapped. And, you guessed it, the transfer of the money is less
than successful. This, of course, gives the story's chain pot smoker a
chance to run into a few of the eccentrics who populate Coen movies.
(The movie could easily spawn a prequel about The Dude's life. We
learn, among other things, that he was once a radical member of the
famous Seattle Seven.)
Julianne Moore drops in from on high as The Big Lebowski's
daughter, Maude. Maude is an artist who obsesses over sex and likes to
paint while naked. When The Dude meets her, the nude Maude flies over
him like Peter Pan in a leather harness as she heads to the canvas to
splatter it with paint.
As an ultra-competitive bowler named Jesus Quintana, John Turturro
gives the show's most outlandish performance. With his lavender
clothes, his half-dozen rings, and his single painted fingernail, he
licks his bowling ball while flamenco music plays in the background.
He and his buddies are out to win the league competition and love
making threats to The Dude and his team.
Ben Gazzara plays a pornographer named Jackie Treehorn, who
believes that "the mind is the biggest erogenous zone." Like the
businessman in THE GRADUATE who recommended plastics as the future,
Jackie sees software as his industry's most lucrative direction.
Of the aforementioned dream sequences, the best called "The Gutter
Ball" and set to the music of "I just dropped in to see what condition,
my condition is in." Many other scenes are ones that only Ethan and
Joel Coen could contrive. One of the best has the Germans throwing a
pet marmot into the tub when The Dude is taking his bath. As the
rodent heads for his private parts, the bad guys demand their money.
Still, the movie is more fascinating than funny, one you're more
likely to discuss afterwards that laugh at while it is playing.
Although the movie engenders many a nice chuckle, more often you're
likely to be thinking a silent "wow" to yourself.
"So what do you do for recreation," Maude asks The Dude. "Oh,
bowl, run around, and the occasional acid flashes," the perpetually
stoned Dude replies. He may not have much of a life, but it's his
life. He and his buddies share a single battle cry that gets them
through good times and bad: "Let's go bowling!"
THE BIG LEBOWSKI runs 1:55. It is rated R for profanity,
violence, nudity and drugs and would be acceptable for teenagers if
they are older and mature.
Andy Wright
The Big Lebowski
Grade: B (Recommended for fans)
Directed by Joel Coen
Written by Ethan And Joel Coen
Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore
Year of Release: 1998
Rating: R
Capsule Review:
After a brief and somewhat disconcerting flirtation with the =
conventional, FARGO creators and supreme weisenheimers Joel & Ethan Coen =
have returned to the fringe big time with this, their loosest film to =
date. A radically disheveled Jeff Bridges headlines as the titular Dude, =
a hazy bowling obsessed slacker who gets reluctantly drawn into the =
Coens' favorite plot device - a haywire kidnapping scheme. It's a =
tantalizing setup - THE BIG SLEEP with Jeff Spicoli instead of Philip =
Marlowe - but the film never really builds on it, preferring instead to =
dance around the edges and introduce as many wacky characters (including =
ace performances by Coen mainstays John Goodman, John Turturro, and an =
underutilized Steve Buscemi) and absurd situations as it possibly can.
Although there are plenty of laughs to be had, what ultimately makes =
this film feel like a minor effort is the lack of the tightly coiled =
(albeit noticeably bent) internal logic that governed the duo's previous =
efforts and which made even the goofiest scenes seem connected with the =
narrative as a whole; this is the first of their movies that feels like =
it was pretty much being made up as it went along.
While longtime fans will find much to savor amid the mess =
(particularly Goodman's superb performance and an awesomely gonzo =
musical dance sequence), LEBOWSKI isn't likely to satisfy the mainstream =
audience that jumped aboard the bandwagon with FARGO - and that just =
might be the Coens' biggest and best joke of all.=20
Copyright 1998 by The Critic formerly known as Andrew Wright
For more insanely biased reviews, check out http://www.seanet.com/~louk/
e-mail lo...@seanet.com
Matt Williams
THE BIG LEBOWSKI
A film review by Matt Williams
RATING: * * out of * * * *
The Coen Brothers have consistently released a string of quirky,
offbeat, but highly entertaining films with only one minor stumble
(Miller's Crossing). While The Big Lebowski delivers more of their
typical oddball characters and situations, it is an unfortunate
disappointment. This time, they have all the parts together, but
someone forgot the glue.
Jeff Bridges stars as "The Dude" Jeff Lebowski, but not The Big
Lebowski. That appellation belongs to a millionaire (David Huddleston)
who happens to have the same name as The Dude, but much bigger enemies.
Or at least his trophy wife, Bunny (Tara Reid), does. But it doesn't
matter much to The Dude when those enemies, in a mix-up, come knocking
on his door.
The Dude, you see, is a relic from the 60s. His hippie lifestyle has
devolved over time into an endless haze of smoking marijuana, drinking
White Russians, and bowling. His bowling partners don't have much of a
life either. There's Walter (John Goodman), an obsessed Vietnam vet with
a hair trigger, and an irrational devotion to his ex-wife. And then
there's the wimpish Donny (Steve Buscemi), who's the team's best bowler,
but gets no recognition and little respect from his teammates.
So, as the Dude gets entangled in the plot, through no fault of his own,
he meets a plethora of unusual characters. Julianne Moore appears as an
uber-feministic artist. Peter Stormare is a German nihilist with an
attack ferret. Coen regular John Turturro has a cameo as Jesus, a
bowler with strange predilections. There's even a cowboy, Sam Elliott,
who narrates the tale.
However, the sensation this time around is like a bunch of jigsaw pieces
from different puzzles hammered together. The Coen's better work, such
as Raising Arizona or Barton Fink, each had the same menagerie of
bizarre characters, but in those films there was some sort of common
thread that linked them all together. They all seemed to belong in the
same world...something that's not true of The Big Lebowski.
Taken on an individual basis, the characters are funny. Jeff Bridges
does another superb turn in the film's central role, enhancing his
character with a seemingly effortless comic touch. Goodman's outbursts
are amusing, but they seem staged. Many of the other characters are
overshadowed by their own quirks.
Visually, the film is a treat, particularly in the film's elaborately
staged dream sequences. They serve no narrative purpose in the film
(like many other things), but they're a hoot to watch.
The central problem with the film seems to be on the script level.
There are plenty of good concepts and interesting characters, but the
end result seems more like a scrapbook than a screenplay.
The Big Lebowski is a failure. But, on the bright side, it's a Coen
Brothers failure, so, even if the film has little point and even less
cohesion, you've got quirky characters and strange situations to divert
you.
Copyright 1998 Matt Williams
- Matt Williams (ma...@shreck.com)
Reviewer for Shreck's Cinema: http://www.shreck.com
Home of over 500 reviews, and information on over 600 upcoming releases
Mark R Leeper
THE BIG LEBOWSKI
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: The Coen Brothers tell their funniest
story since RAISING ARIZONA. Jeff Bridges plays an
aging, burned-out hippie pulled into the weird
goings-on after the wife of a famous multi-
millionaire is kidnapped. The film is big-time
funny, has a host of really weird characters and
tremendous visual imagination, but could have used
a stronger third act. Rating: 8 (0 to 10), high
+2 (-4 to +4)
Now I claim what is going on here is that a cowboy without much
respect for the sort of people he finds in Los Angeles, spins the
gull-darnedest yarn about a guy he met in a bar a couple of times. But
there will probably be other interpretations.
Jeff Bridges plays a laid-back aging hippie who happens to have
the same name, Jeff Lebowski, as a famous philanthropist, though the
hippie prefers being called The Dude. That sounds like it could be a
good thing, but the philanthropist has enemies and some of the no-so-
bright ones confuse the two and take their ire out on The Dude. After
discussing the situation with his close bowling buddies, para-military
Walter Sobchak (a hilarious role for John Goodman) and low-voltage
surfer Donny (Steve Buscemi), The Dude figures there is nothing he can
do but face the Big Lebowski (David Huddlestone). The Big Lebowski at
first has little use for someone with The Dude's marginal life-style,
but he finds a use when his wife is kidnapped and he needs someone to
drop off the million-dollar ransom. The Dude wants to play it
straight, but Sobchak figures if they play their cards right he and The
Dude could split the million.
Only the Coen Brothers could tell a story this complicated, this
weird, and with so many characters on so many different frequencies.
The film is full of weirdoes, many of whom are present only to add
texture. John Tuturro, missing from films for a while, plays the
totally superfluous role of Jesus, the bowling rival of our heroes.
The over-ripe Jesus practically dances a flamenco every time he throws
the ball. Then their are the nihilist bikers. And if the script does
not add enough weird characters, the character you think you know get
weirder and weirder.
Raymond Chandler used to add a touch of the surreal to his mystery
stories whenever his detective was knocked out by telling us Marlowe's
dreams while he was unconscious. But then Philip Marlowe was only an
amateur at hallucinating. He was not a stoned-out hippie like The
Dude. Conk The Dude on the bean and you get weird bowling dreams that
are worth the price of admission by themselves. The Coen Brothers have
incredible visual imagination and tremendous good humor. Comedies of
late have been mild smile- along-with-Sandra-Bullock sorts of things.
The only recent film that made me laugh out loud recently was MIDNIGHT
IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL. But it has been a good while since I
have laughed as hard as I did at THE BIG LEBOWSKI. The only real
problem with the script is the plot lacks a strong finish. After a
strong first and second act, the film has a much lower-key third act
that resolves the mystery but lacks the strength and the humor of the
first two. The film needed a wild finish and goes soft and sentimental
at the wrong time.
This is a film that has great visuals and has genuine laugh-out-
loud humor. If it has a weak spot it is only that the story is just
okay, but that is not really the point. I rate it 8 on the 0 to 10
scale and a high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mle...@lucent.com
Copyright 1998 Mark R. Leeper
Curtis Edmonds
by Curtis Edmonds -- blue...@hsbr.org
The Big Lebowski opens with a wonderful sequence. We see a bleak
nighttime Western vista, we hear the distinctive voice of Sam Elliott
over the cool Western harmonies of the Sons of the Pioneers singing
"Drifting along with the Tumbling Tumbleweeds." And then we see a
tumbleweed, rolling gently along the desert plains, slowly moving this
way and that. And then, all of a sudden, pow! The perspective shifts,
and we see the lights of the Los Angeles basin below.
And if the whole movie were like that -- which it is not -- we would,
again, be standing in reverent awe at the talents of the Coen Brothers,
Ethan and Joel, creators of Raising Arizona, Millers Crossing, and
Fargo, and two of our great nation's national treasures. Unfortunately,
the tumbleweed that opens The Big Lebowski is more than just an
arresting visual image, it's a metaphor for its lead character, and
ultimately, a metaphor for this shaggy, meandering movie..
The tumbleweed in question is known as The Dude. The Dude is described
as the "laziest man in Los Angeles County" -- and therefore a leading
contender for laziest man in the world. The Dude is a walking, talking
piece of Woodstock Nation twenty-five years past its shelf life. He's
got no job, no money, and the ability to smoke more pot, bowl more
frames, and drink more White Russians than any six men.
The Dude spends the movie trapped inside a complex and twisty plot
involving the kidnapped trophy wife of a crippled millionaire. It's the
sort of plot that you'll enjoy watching much more than I'll enjoy trying
to explain it, so I won't. Let's just say that The Dude is blown by
chance all around Los Angeles, bumping into a stream of warped
characters the same way that the wind bumps a tumbleweed across the
Western prairies.
The plot structure is loosely akin to a Raymond Chandler noir thriller,
with The Dude roaming Los Angeles in the Phillip Marlowe role. There's
even a cute little vignette where Coen Brothers veteran Jon Polito shows
up, playing a hard-boiled private eye, and assumes that The Dude is also
a detective. The Dude is utterly bewildered by this comment, as well he
should be -- he takes a passive role throughout the movie, acting only
when necessary. And in this fashion, he wanders through the movie --
the entire movie, let me add -- wandering around aimlessly, hardly ever
picking up speed.
At first glance, watching this movie circle around the screen like a big
shaggy dog looking for a place to lie down, I thought that The Big
Lebowski was the Coens subtly poking fun at Quentin Tarantino's Los
Angeles. Then I decided that they were just poking fun at themselves
and their movies. And then -- in the car, on the way home -- I figured
it out. The Big Lebowski -- and I mean this as praise, not criticism --
is a two-hour Seinfeld episode. It's a movie about nothing.
The Dude, of course, is the Cosmo Kramer of this ensemble. Jeff Bridges
is The Dude, and it's hard to imagine anyone doing a better job.
Bridges owns this movie. Where a lesser actor could have made The Dude
nothing more than a hippie dufus, Bridges brings a certain depth of
character to the role. Since we're with The Dude the whole movie, it's
important that he be offbeat without being annoying, eccentric without
being inane. Bridges is convincing throughout, whether he's delivering
simple truths ("The car is stolen.") or confused blather.
John Goodman is Walter Sobchak, the George Costanza of the group.
Walter's a rageaholic loser who is capable of simultaneously caring for
his ex-wife's Pomeranian and pulling a firearm on an erring bowling
opponent. Goodman is the source of many of the film's best lines and
funniest belly laughs, and The Big Lebowski is his best film in years.
In contrast, Steve Buscemi is almost the opposite of Jerry Seinfeld.
Whereas Seinfeld is a sharp observational comedian, Buscemi's character
is a dim-witted bowler who has to be reminded every so often what is
going on. It's a slight part, and Buscemi does only a slight acting
job. Rounding out the ensemble is Julianne Moore as Maude Lebowski.
Moore is the best reason to see this movie. She's only in three scenes
-- if you don't count one of the two dream sequences -- but she steals
the show as an embarrassingly frank performance artist with a Katherine
Hepburn accent.
Like in any Seinfeld episode, the plot is almost an afterthought.
What's important about The Big Lebowski isn't the wandering plot, it's
the little vignettes and character and jokes along the way. This is a
comedy, full of sharp observational humor, a ton of the weird supporting
characters that is the Coen Brothers hallmark, and a couple of
astonishingly well-crafted shots. As long as you don't go expecting
Fargo -- or The Hudsucker Proxy, for that matter -- The Big Lebowski is
a fun time at the movies. Pity we don't get to say that too often.
Rating: B
--
Curtis "BlueDuck" Edmonds
blue...@hsbr.org
The Hollywood Stock Brokerage and Resource
http://www.hsbr.org/brokers/blueduck/
Kevin Patterson
Film review by Kevin Patterson
THE BIG LEBOWSKI
Rating: ***1/2 (out of four)
R, 1998
Directed by Joel Coen. Written by Joel and Ethan Coen.
Starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore.
With the exception of their surrealistic satire Barton Fink, the films of Joel
and Ethan Coen fit into two broad categories: quirky and sometimes darkly
humorous takes on the "film noir" genre in which crime schemes go wrong and
spin increasingly out of control (FARGO, MILLER's CROSSING, BLOOD SIMPLE), and
off-the-wall comedies centered around an eccentric, scatter-brained lead
character (RAISING ARIZONA, THE HUDSUCKER PROXY). Their latest offering, THE
BIG LEBOWSKI, falls within the latter category, though there are elements of
the crime-gone-wrong theme and even a touch of satire to be found in this
film. The main difference, however, is that while the protagonists of RAISING
ARIZONA and THE HUDSUCKER PROXY had lofty aspirations and ideals but didn't
quite have the brains to get it all together, the main character of THE BIG
LEBOWSKI seems like a fairly intelligent guy who's wise to the world, but he
doesn't really want to do much of anything besides go bowling, smoke pot, and
generally relax.
That main character is Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges), introduced
by the film's rambling narrator (Sam Elliott) as "quite possibly the laziest
man in Los Angeles county." The Dude is unemployed, needless to say, and
spends most of his time at the bowling alley with his two best friends, Walter
(John Goodman), a borderline-psychotic who's in the habit of pulling a gun
when he thinks somebody's cheating in a bowling match ("Has the whole world
gone CRAZY?!" he shouts at a suspected cheater), and Donny (Steve Buscemi),
who's always a few steps behind the conversation and is constantly berated by
Walter for it ("Donny, you have no frame of reference here!"). These three
seem to more or less live for bowling tournaments, and as the film begins they
are anticipating an important match with rival bowler Jesus Quintana (John
Turturro), who, when we first meet him, is doing a dance in the bowling lane
to accompany a Spanish version of "Hotel California" and, if it's possible,
seems to be even more of a head case than Walter.
If that doesn't give you a good idea of this film's absurdist tone, then
perhaps this will: the entire scenario which drives the story is set in motion
by two thugs mistakenly urinating on the Dude's rug. They've mistaken him for
a millionaire of the same name who is also known as the "Big" Lebowski (David
Huddleston) and whose nymphomaniac wife Bunny (Tara Reid) owes money to porn
producer Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara). The Dude goes to the Big Lebowski
seeking compensation for his ruined rug; he doesn't have any luck, but when
Bunny is apparently kidnapped, the elder Lebowski asks him to deliver the $1
million ransom.
Unfortunately, Walter gets involved and fouls up the drop-off, and before they
can try again to get the money to the supposed kidnappers, the Dude's car gets
stolen, along with the briefcase containing the money. Soon, the Dude is being
harassed not only by the Big Lebowski himself but also by Treehorn and by a
group of German "nihilists" who demand the ransom money even though they may
not have been involved in the kidnapping in the first place; the Dude and
Walter suspect that Bunny may well have kidnapped herself in order to extort
money from her husband to repay her debts to Treehorn. Meanwhile, the Big
Lebowski's daughter Maude (Julianne Moore), a feminist avant-garde artist who
likes to make grand entrances swinging through the air naked, wants to recover
the money for her family.
The plot, however, is really just a vehicle for all these bizarre characters
to run wild and wreak their own unique forms of havoc. The previews for THE
BIG LEBOWSKI feature Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Run Through The Jungle,"
and it fits: the Coens see Los Angeles as a veritable jungle of oddballs and
nutcases, with the sometimes bewildered Dude left to run through it and try to
avoid any more trouble (usually unsuccessfully). The film doesn't feature
quite as many one-liners and sight gags as the Coens' other comedies (though
there are a few hilarious moments of visual humor, particularly in the Dude's
dream sequences and acid flashbacks), but it more than makes up for it with
the sheer fun of watching these strange characters interact. The film
sometimes seems a little disjointed as a result - you get the feeling that the
Coens have not only set their characters loose in this "jungle" but are also
themselves running crazy through the jungle of their own twisted imaginations
- but for the most part the characterizations are interesting enough to
overcome the shaky plotting and what turns out to be a somewhat anticlimactic
resolution.
There's also a noticeable (but not too heavy-handed) thread of social
commentary in THE BIG LEBOWSKI, which, incidentally, takes place just as the
Gulf War is about to begin; at the beginning, we see George Bush on television
making his "This aggression will not stand" speech. The Coens take aim at just
about every elite L.A. subculture in the book: the egotistical wealthy
businessman ("The bums will always lose!" shouts the Big Lebowski at one
point), the porn industry, the overbearing Malibu policeman who berates the
Dude for disturbing their "peaceful beach community," and so on. By the end,
we really start to admire the Dude, who almost certainly harbors the least
"aggression" of anyone in this story; his passive resistance (emphasis on
"passive," albeit) to the elite emerges as something more than just another
quirky characterization in a film overflowing with quirky characters. He also
turns out to have a pretty well-functioning brain in his head, even if he
doesn't like to use it very much; his sarcasm towards Treehorn and the Malibu
policeman shows that he knows when he's getting a run around, and he does
manage to unravel the kidnapping mystery by the end.
The Coens certainly poke fun at the Dude for his laziness, but they don't just
treat him as fodder for cheap shots either. I think that, more than anything,
is what makes THE BIG LEBOWSKI a standout comedy: it manages to approach
characters like the Dude and, to some extent, Walter, with genuine affection
while still acknowledging that they are pretty scatter-brained. Audience
members may find themselves surprised at how much they like the un-dynamic duo
by the end of the movie, given that they seemed like nothing more than the
butts of an extended joke at first. "It's good knowin' he's out there, the
Dude, takin' it easy," posits the narrator towards the end. I dare say that
truer words have seldom been spoken.
- - - - - - -
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David Kerr
THE BIG LEBOWSKI
An Incompetent Film Review by David Kerr
Copyright 1998 David Kerr
Rating: ***/****
Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi
1998, R, 115 minutes
The Coen Brothers latest offering is sure to please fans of their older
works, especially Raising Arizona. Directed by Joel Coen, produced by
Ethan Coen, and created by both, this is the team that brought last
year's smash Fargo.
I liked Fargo, but The Big Lebowski is not like Fargo at all, except for
that ol' Coen Brothers style. Everything that the Coens have done has
been wierd and over the top, and The Big Lebowski is no exception.
The story is about The Dude (Jeff Bridges) who comes home one fateful
day to find two thugs awaiting to collect money from one Jeff Lebowski.
After roughing up The Dude a bit and urinating on his carpet, the thugs
realize that they have the wrong guy. The Dude's name is Jeff Lebowski,
but there are two Jeff Lebowskis and the one they want is supposed to be
a millionaire living in a mansion.
The Dude is upset over his carpet. "It was the centerpiece of the
apartment" exclaims his veteran bowling buddy Walter (John Goodman).
The Dude wants compensation for his rug, but when he asks for it he gets
much more than he bargained for. He is drawn into a web of deciet,
lies, kidnappings, car chases, feminism, porn movies, and nihilism.
And in the midst of all this chaos, The Dude is relaxed. He is the
"laziest man in Los Angle-ees" explains narrator Sam Niell. After an
afternoon of madness, The Dude returns to his bowling tournament, with
partners Walter and Donny (Steve Buscemi).
This movie isn't a laugh fest, although there are a few instances of
extreme craziness that push the viewer over the edge. One scene comes
to mind, when The Dude is decoding a secret message that turns out to be
a rude drawing. I don't want to give it away, but it is quite funny,
and for some reason reminded me of a line from The Long Kiss Goodnight.
What is the point of this movie? Glad you asked. I am not really
sure. As far as I can make out, this is just a week in the life of The
Dude. The Dude gets a rabid marmet thrown on him while taking a bath
and doesn't think much of it. He goes bowling, and returns home to the
chaos. The Dude isn't a nihilist, but the ultimate message is nihilism
- who cares? Nothing really matters in this movie. The Dude is a poke
and prod kinda guy who reacts to external stimuli. Ironically the
nihilist gang members are the most concerned about their welfare in this
movie.
As Homer J. Simpson said, there is no moral of the show, it is "just a
bunch of stuff that happened". Relax, sit back, and watch. Unlike
movies where this is the case because the movie has no substance, this
film is deliberately made to be nothing more than a set of events.
I have to say I enjoyed this movie, but it is definitely not for all
tastes. Watch Raising Arizona before seeing this. If you loved it,
you'll at least be in for a treat with the Big Lebowski. I liked it,
but I can't say I'm dying to go see it again. I got my money's worth,
which is a good thing these days. Besides, it's worth it to see Peter
Stormare play a porno star... if only for a few hilarious seconds.
David Kerr
kerrS...@hotmail.com
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Randy Turgeon
The Big Lebowsi
Summary
Mistaken identity spells disaster for The Dude (Jeff Bridges), the laziest
man in L.A. County. Two thugs invade his home and assault him, looking for
money
to pay off his wife's debt. The only problem is The Dude is not married and we
learn that although his real name is Jeff Lebowski, it is not the same wealthy
Jeff Lebowski who has a wife that owes money to the wrong people. The thugs
leave, but not before one of them urinates on The Dude's prized rug.
The Dude wants reparations for the loss of his rug. After conferring with
his two bowling buddies Walter (John Goodman) and Donny (Steve Buscemi), he
decides that since his rug was ruined due to the negligence of Jeff Lebowski's
wife Bunny (Tara Reid), he should seek out the Big Lebowski himself (David
Huddleston) for restitution. It does not go well, as Mr. Lebowski scolds and
berates The Dude as if he were a child caught stealing money from his mother's
purse.
The Dude's dealings with Lebowski are not finished however as The Dude is
hired to be a courier for him. It appears that Bunny Lebowski has been
kidnapped
and Lebowski needs someone to deliver the ransom to her captors. The Dude
accepts and with the help of Walter promptly botches the delivery. Nothing
worse
could have happened to The Dude as he becomes fully involved in the bizarre
situation surrounding Bunny Lebowski including involvement in pornography
industry and association with German nihilists.
Could the scenario possibly get worse for The Dude? His love interest is
the
Big Lebowski's daughter Maude (Julianne Moore), who initially assaults him also
(she didn't care for his solution for his rug replacement). She is quite a
character, as flying around in a harness while naked, spraying paint appears to
be her favorite pastime, and her acquaintances would make Marilyn Manson seem
like a Boy Scout. The Dude must deal with all of these strange people (his
friends included), unusual circumstances and survive countless assaults (some
self-inflicted) to uncover the truth to the wacky Lebowski family.
Commentary
After the credits rolled for this film I sat in the theater trying to
decide
whether I actually liked it or not. Two hours later I still could not make up
my
mind. To call this film "offbeat" would be a tremendous understatement. There
are some truly bizarre films that work well (Matthew Bright's 'Freeway' comes
to
mind), and some films that have some bizarre moments (the Gimp scene in 'Pulp
Fiction') that have the same effect. The Big Lebowski falls under the former
category and some elements work, some do not.
The Coen's definitely have a style all their own. If you were to walk in on
this movie and not know what it was, you could pick out it was 'a Coen' in
minutes, much like Stanley Kubrick films. The Big Lebowski's high points are
definitely vintage Coen: colorful characters, a great ear for dialogue,
seemingly unnecessary extra characters (like Marge Gunderson's lunch date in
'Fargo') and funny self-parodies. All of these elements are well done. Jeff
Bridges does a wonderful job playing the spaced out Dude, and John Goodman gets
the great role of the psychopathic Vietnam war veteran on the verge of a
killing
spree. This film is funny and has some nice comic subtleties, like when the
Dude
goes to the Supermarket just to buy cream and pays for it with a check.
What I did not like was the fact that this movie is far too strange. I
enjoy
offbeat films more than the average movie fan, but this was ridiculous. It
tries
too hard. What was the point in having the Maude character introduced with that
silly harness? What was with those strange dream sequences? I usually dislike
dream sequences because it gives the director free reign to do whatever they
please without explanation. The only normal character may be Donny, if only
Walter would actually let him speak.
It would have been nearly impossible for the Coens' to duplicate the
success
of 'Fargo', but this film is a slight disappointment nevertheless. However, I
will still marginally recommend the film because it does have its' moments, and
it is unfair to hold it up to 'Fargo' standards.
The Big Lebowski *** (out of five)
Directed by Joel Coen
The Dude....................Jeff Bridges
Walter......................John Goodman
Donny.......................Steve Buscemi
Maude.......................Julianne Moore
Big Lebowski................David Huddleston
Nihilist....................Peter Stomare
Bunny.......................Tara Reid
Written by Randy Turgeon, March 11, 1998.
Derek Miner
THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)
A Film Review by Derek Miner
Copyright 1998 Derek Miner
I suppose I'm asking for trouble when I have to take issue with a Coen
Brothers film. Sure, there have always been those who don't like their
work, but it hardly seems to matter what criticisms are launched when you
"get it." Take, for instance, "The Hudsucker Proxy" which I found to be a
highly enjoyable, inventively surreal, lovingly crafted parable. I was
(and still am) awestruck at the critical trashing that film took. So here
I am, a traitor to the ranks, I suppose, because I just didn't "get" "The
Big Lebowski"
The film starts curiously enough, promising to be some sort of urban
legend, paralleling the old west with early-90s Los Angeles. We meet "the
Dude" (Jeff Bridges) -- Jeff Lebowski number one, slacker extraordinaire,
whose prized living room rug is soiled by some punks who are actually
after a _different_ Jeff Lebowski. That Lebowski (David Huddleston)
appears to be a rich man who ends up using the Dude to help recover his
kidnapped trophy-wife. The Dude is much more interested in bowling with
his pals (John Goodman and Steve Buscemi), but trouble (in the form of
Nihillists and assorted other wackos) just won't leave him alone.
"The Big Lebowski" begins with such promise. The bowling alley credit
sequence is one of the most absurdly funny things I've ever seen. Our
characters (for the most part) seem so honestly part of their reality, you
feel like _something_ amazing will happen. But it never does. After an
hour and a half, I was desperately waiting for the tangents of this film
to converge in some sensible, if absurd or ironic, way. I forgave the
lapses between humorous parts becuase I sensed it was all going somewhere,
and at the end of the ride I would understand. By the time the end credits
rolled, however, I felt cheated. I say "cheated" because it always seemed
possible (and likely) that the non-existent payoff was around the bend
from the next plot twist. By the time the film edged over the two hour
mark, it seemed like the plot just twisted away into nothingness and they
forgot to let us in on that fact.
At times in "The Big Lebowski," I marvelled at just how much guts the
Coens had to pull off what I saw up on the screen. I laughed heartily
several times. But even gutsy, original work needs some kind of anchor,
something to bring home the humanity of the story. That's why a cheap,
sloppy film like "Clerks" works so well whereas a slickly produced
festival entry can fail because the characters and writing don't resonate.
Even with quirkiness to spare, "The Big Lebowski" has all the character
resonance of a whoopie cushion. The bowling alley talks (if you could call
them that) shared between the Dude and bowling pals seem forced and
unfunny. These friends seem to hate each other, and their conversations
are so rude, you hope that someone (preferably our main character, The
Dude) will realize this and just move on. But The Dude doesn't seem any
the better at the end of his journey, and neither does anyone else, for
that matter.
I've read several reviews of this film, and every one of them has been
ready to praise "The Big Lebowski" despite it's flaws. So until someone
lets me in on what I didn't "get," I'll just go back to enjoying "Fargo"
and "The Hudsucker Proxy" at home, where it's safe.
Chris Simpson
THE BIG LEBOWSKI (MPAA rating: R)
Directed by Joel Coen
Written by Ethan & Joel Coen
Starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi
Reviewed by Bart
About six months ago, I was in the cinema watching the trailers for
upcoming movies. There was the usual complement of five, and they had
one thing in common -- they were all previewing remakes or sequels.
There was not one original idea between them. Add to that the "reverse
spin-off" movies from TV shows (I won't pass judgement on "Lost In
Space" or "The X-Files" yet, but "Sanford and Son"? Puh-leeze!), the
alarming number of cases of two movies being made from the same
material (Steve Prefontaine, volcanoes, the Dalai Lama, earthbound
comets) and Miramax's interest in resurrecting the "Rambo" franchise
and you've got to wonder what things are going to be like in a few
years' time. So it's in this atmosphere that it's good to see the
refreshing and always-original Coen brothers follow up "Fargo", a movie
about an unusual quasi-kidnapping, with "The Big Lebowski", a movie
about...an unusual quasi-kidnapping.
OK, so the similarity may pretty much end with that sentence, but given
that this is hardly a genre that's flooding the cineplexes, it's all a
bit unnerving. So much so that "Fargo" was always in the back of my
mind, which was a shame since "The Big Lebowski", while undoubtedly
better than most current movies, compares unfavourably to that earlier
picture.
Jeff Bridges plays Jeff Lebowski, known as "Dude", a pot-smoking
neo-hippie who returns from a bowling game with his friends Walter
(John Goodman, who spends the entire movie shouting) and Donny (Steve
Buscemi, in a ridiculously small role) to find two goons in his
apartment demanding payment for debts run up by his wife. The goons are
actually looking for another Jeff Lebowski (the "big" one of the title,
played by David Huddleston), but being typical goons, they fail to
realize that the Dude's abode is far removed from the opulence of their
millionaire targets, and by the time they realize this one of them has
already urinated on the Dude's rug. Walter persuades the Dude to try to
get some compensation from the Big Lebowski and it is this meeting
which causes the Dude to be brought in as a courier when the richer
Lebowski's young wife disappears and a ransom note is received. Things
of course do not run smoothly and typical Coen brothers mayhem ensues.
So, what's wrong with this picture? Well, while the collection of
subplots and dream sequences usually succeed by themselves, as a whole
they lack cohesion and the movie feels disjointed. Earlier Coen
brothers movies got their delightfully surreal nature predominantly
from the premise, but in "The Big Lebowski" it is the characters who
provide the surreality via a collection of unusual traits, and this
melting pot of bizarreness fails to produce the overall feel possessed
by their previous movies. The movie does have some great scenes,
however, especially those featuring John Turturro as a bowler on a
rival team, and invites frequent laughter, but ultimately it's not up
to the consistent standards of the Coens. That doesn't mean it's a bad
movie, since these standards are high, but it will be a disappointment
to many fans of Joel and Ethan's work.
Also look out for the brief screen debut of singer/songwriter Aimee
Mann as the girlfriend of one of the three German nihilists, and the
motion sickness-inducing camera shot looking out through the
fingerholes of a bowling ball during one of the dream sequences.
Bart's grade: B
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Bart |\/\/\/|
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