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The Big Lebowski

The Big Lebowski

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: LET ME EXPLAIN SOMETHING ABOUT THE DUDE....
Review: What do you get when you take the talent of Jeff Bridges, the insanity of John Goodman, the hideously twisted boringness of Steve Buscemi and bake it in the minds of the Coen Brothers for about 2 hours? Throw in some marijuana, White Russians, stuffy rich wannabes, a porn king, an uzi, henchmen, a "reactionary" Chief of Malibu, a cut off toe with nailpolish, a marmot, a pomeranian, Viking opera, kidnappers, 1 million dollars and a rug that really tied the room together? If you haven't guessed yet you get The Big Lebowski. This movie stars Jeff Bridges as "The Dude", a self proclaimed middle-aged pacifist, who spends his earthly existence bowling, driving around, smoking pot, and drinking white russians. The Dude has to put all that to one side for now as he is on a mission. In a case of mistaken identity, some thugs harass the dude about some money they think his wife owes to Jackie Treehorn, the biggest porno producer on the west coast. In the confusion one of these 2 gentlemen decides to relieve himself on the dude's rug that by the way, "really tied the room together".

The dude figures out that the other Lebowski, the "Big Lebowski", the millionaire that these thugs were looking for should compensate him for the rug, which would NOT have gotten peed on by the "china man" had his wife not owed money all over town. After the rug issue is settled the dude learns later that the "Big Lebowski's wife, "Bunny" has been kidnapped by Nihilists of all people! They want the dude to act as a currier to deliver 1 million dollars to the kidnappers in the hopes that he can identify these thugs as the men who soiled his rug that "really tied the room together".

Walter [John Goodman], of course, f's it up trying to relive a Vietnam flashback. The kidnappers get a suitcase full of Walter's dirty undies instead of the money! While trying to drown his sorrows in bowling, the dude's car with the million dollars still in the trunk is stolen by a kid named Larry Sellers, who "lives off Radford, near the In and Out Burger". Will the dude get the money back before the Nihlists cut off his johnson? And what of the rug and the dude's car? Will the kidnappers kill "Bunny" before the dude can get Larry to crack and give up the money? Or can Maude, a rich femenist hold the answer? Unfortunately this movie was a bummer at the box office but it is truly one of the great comedies of the decade. Get this movie today and "take it easy man".

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Genius...
Review: Although there are already close to 200 reviews for this movie here, I love this movie so much that I have to add my own two cents.

Everything about this film is absolutely brilliant. The dialogue (the main drawing point), the cast selection (which is flawless), the scene shooting... One fascinating aspect of this movie is that the humour goes from being subtle to over the top in the same scene and they're both equally effective. The dialogue is fast-paced, but after you watch it a few times, you begin to pick up the subtleties within the film.

Another thing, many people complain about the plot being too weak, but this is more than just another kidnapping plot. The actual plot itself is quite complex, and only after I watched the film many times did I have a cohesive idea of what happened.

This is most likely THE funniest movie I have ever seen. A lot of the humour is subtle, but totally hilarious. The funniest main character (in my own humble opinion) would have to be Walter. Maybe because the character reminds me of some aquaintences of mine, but he is just so bizarre yet believable at the same time.

As for my favorite supporting character, I think I'd have to go with the popular opinion and choose Jesus. This character is the funniest thing I've ever seen. His whole demeanor is just classic. Cocky and perverted.

There are so many sub-plots in TBL that it's neccesary to watch it over and over again to fully absorb it. And after you do that, you'll still watch it over and over just for sheer enjoyment. This is the only movie that my entire cirle of friends has embraced.

One more thought....notice how most of the reviews here for TBL are either five stars or one? I guess this just seperates those who "get it" from those who don't.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent Performances
Review: This has to be one of my favourite films, in whole due to the absolute genius of the lead character "the dude". The movie starts with one of the funniest deliveries around, wait for the dudes answer to "Where's the money Lebowski". And that's the premise for the movie, two Lebowskis, one rich, one the dude, and a case of mistaken identity that results in someone pissing on the dude's rug.

I won't give away anything, as this film is best seen as a series of events that are expertly pieced together by the dude. The Coens have really made a masterpiece here, and its a shame that they were Oscared for Fargo whereas The Big Lebowski is bar far a funnier and innovative movie.

If you haven't seen it, and you find eithe the Coens funny or like the idea of an almost abstract plot that has some of the best dream sequences around, then get this. Its a comic festival, ready to be played whenever you want it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Worst film I have seen
Review: Without wishing to upset the others who have given this film glowing reviews, I must say that this film has to be the worst I have ever seen. Its' wafer thin story line , which also had holes a jet could fly through, was so bad I had to resist ejecting the DVD. I only watched all of it so I could give it a balanced review and maybe see if it had a scrap of worthy dialog or even one small piece of humour that wasn't contrived or derivative ( the urn ash all over the Dude, really ). All in all a waste of money. The opposite of funny.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THE FUNNIEST MOVIE OF THE 90S
Review: Just rent this film once and you will want to buy it forever.Simply put the best performances ever by Jeff Briges and John Goodman and nonstop comic dialouge makes for simply one of the funniest movies around.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dude...It Works On So Many Levels
Review: How many movies can I bring to my stoner friends and my intellectual friends and everyone in between and still get a positive reaction. There's something for everyone. As a pure stoner movie you have to love it. As a complex allegory for American policy especially in the Gulf War era, (Hint: everyone named Lebowski is named Lebowski for a reason...I'll let you figure the rest out, though there's still one or two characters I can't quite pin down), it ranks way above similar political allegories like Gulliver's Travels or The Wizard of Oz because at least the plot makes sense. The characters alone could make the movie: even a friend who hated the movie has memorized every line that Jesus has. Jesus is possibly the funniest character in any movie ever and is certainly one of the best Christ figures I've seen...far better than the ones in Magnolia, The Green Mile, or The Beach. Worth watching over and over again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Coen In the Parlance of Our Times
Review: Sam Elliot's portrayal of the bemused Stranger in a ten-gallon hat hovers over The Big Lebowski with a twinkle in its eye. The Los Angeles he comes to visit has fallen far from the American ideal he represents. The grace of this film is that in the hands of the Coen brothers the disparity between the venality of real America and the mythic cowboy credo we still delude ourselves with can be played for its humanity as well as for laughs.

Only distorted and nightmarish echoes remain of the upright, plain speaking loner who rides through the West of our imagination, guided by principles as invariant as the stars that keep him company. The stars still shine for Jeff Lebowski, commonly known as The Dude, but they are the stars of the Hollywood Lanes. League bowling is one of the few organizing principles he has left. Another is the Persian rug on the living room floor of his ratty bachelor apartment. "It tied the room together." When intruders urinate on that rug, mistaking him for another Jeff Lebowski that owes their boss money, The Big Lebowski sets off into the desert of American morality, circa 1991.

There are still cowboys; George Bush squares off against Saddam Hussein, but we all know he's really defending US commerce. Walter Sobchak, The Dude's sidekick and a Vietnam veteran who will not leave the war behind, compulsively defends the moral code of TV westerns against all comers, but is unable to stop himself from trampling all over those values in the process. One of Walter's heroes, the screenwriter for the bulk of the Branded series, lies comatose in an iron lung having fathered little Larry, an illiterate cold-eyed car thief of eleven. Even the Big Lebowski, a civic leader who lost the use of his legs during the Korean War, obtained his wealth and power only by marrying a rich wife. The Dude gave up his pretensions to standing up for anything, softening his fall from 60's left wing political activism with a steady haze of marijuana smoke and White Russians. But he alone retains any empathic vestige of cowboy gallantry.

For all of Walter's blandishments he and the other characters can look no further than their own self-interest. John Goodman's Walter leaps to the attack not so much to stick up for his buddies as to stave off a sense of nihilistic dread, "Say what you want about National Socialism; at least it was an ethos!" In the world of The Big Lebowski "ethos" has become a personal affair. It is an existence shrunk to a vicious circle of lost faith leading to selfish defensiveness. Multiplied by the population this retrenchment has created a cacophony of conflicting personal visions where the old social contracts are no longer respected. The expected link between moral cause and effect is subject to derailment at any time and without notice. Even Jesus does not save. He is just another bowler, a gleefully vicious psychopathic sex offender, teamed up with a stolid whitebread partner who is undoubtedly a conservative pillar of his Baptist Church. John Turturro's Jesus gives new meaning to "Suffer the little children to come unto me".

In the resulting cultural chaos the urge to create some means of personal salvation intensifies, and devil take the hindmost. Walter's shell is his deranged homage to the Western hero. For the Big Lebowski it is championing the cause of Horatio Alger through sponsorship of the Lebowski Little Achievers. His daughter, Maude, finds her solace in the bosom of avant garde "vaginal art". Only Jeff Bridges as The Dude, fortified by substance abuse, is able to keep his eyes open and accept the world on its own terms.

He may be stoned, drunk, lazy, and aimless, but he is, in the Stranger's terms, "the man for his time", a master cowboy who rides serenely off into the sunset strumming his guitar to an audience of cactus and coyotes. In The Dude's world, our world, ambition and achievement are all too often defensive dodges. The Stranger and The Dude know that after all is said and done he who dies with the most toys or the best story. . . dies. And in the process of achieving or trying to force reality to conform to any given storyline violence is too easily done to those who fall within its shadow. The Dude doesn't have any answers, but he doesn't want to contribute to the problem.

In such a seemingly acausal world nihilism, the belief in nothing, must pop up. It does in the form of three avowed German Nihilists bent on scoring a ransom for the Big Lebowski's errant and allegedly kidnapped wife, Bunny. But even as The Dude and Walter discuss their response to the kidnappers' demands it is clear that these nihilists are poseurs; they believe they will get money by terrorizing the Big Lebowski and his bagman, The Dude. As Walter freaks out over the nihilistic menace he is sitting comfortably next to a man who comes closer to real nihilism than any he is ever likely to meet.

The Coen in The Big Lebowski is that The Dude cares. He has no schemes; his moments are their own reward. He and the world he inhabits may be a twisted caricature of how human life should be, but it is enough as it is. The Stranger, angel emissary of a reality that never existed, respects that.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Big funny
Review: A script that could've used one more re-write, with a couple of holes in the plot puts this film a notch below the Coen brothers' best works. Still, unforgettable performances by Goodman and Turturro, trademark Coen brothers lunacy, and a well designed DVD (with a neon motif!), make Lebowski worth a look.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: " Well, thats just like.....yer opinon...man!" - The Dude
Review: All i have to say is that you must see this movie! its very funny....it awful that it was a dissapointment at the box office...i dont see how it was! this is an all time great movie! hey coen brothers! im waiting for a sequel!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You'll do what for a thousands bucks?
Review: If you are looking for an off the wall, unique side spliting comedy this is for you. The characters in this movie are wonderfully presented. You just can't help love'em and hate'em. Jeff, John G., John T. , Juliane and Steve give life to these characters superbly. You may even recognize Tara Reid ( Vikki- American Pie), who spouts out an interesting proposition to the Dude. The plot is secondary to the story of the Dude and the Dudes way of life. Don't be dissuaded though, it is definitly worth adding to your collection. This is a hilarious movie!


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