Rating: 
Summary: Strikes and Gutters in the Bowling Alley of Life
Review: Why do so few films develop a cult following which increases in number and intensity each year? For example, The Big Lebowski. Can you think of another film which has an annual festival in its sole honor? (It was held this year in Louisville.) I was mulling about this as I recently saw it again. Much funnier this time. For me, the same is true of Young Frankenstein. Films never change but we do. So how have I changed? If The Big Lebowski is even funnier the next time, what does that reveal about me? More mulling awaits me.Meanwhile, given the variety of screenplays they have co-authored, produced, directed thus far, Joel and Ethan Coen cannot be accused of predictability. Who else has created a body of work as varied as theirs? Blood Simple (1985), Raising Arizona (1987), Miller's Crossing (1990), Barton Fink (1991), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), Fargo (1996) The Big Lebowski (1998), O, Brother, Where Art Thou? ((2000), and The Man Who Wasn't There (2001). Each has its own loyal and substantial following. Fargo remains my personal favorite but, over time, as I keep changing, perhaps The Big Lebowski will replace it. Few people know that, in fact, the Coens collaborated on its screenplay with members of the Monty Python Flying Circus, Hunter Thompson, Ken Kesey, Salvador Dali, and William M. Gaines. How else to explain the absence of a coherent plot? Fortunately, we have an especially interesting cast of characters in addition to the two Jeffrey Lebowskis (Lebowskes?): "The Big's" wife Bunny (Tara Reid) who creates serious problems for "Dude" because she owes money to Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara) and is kidnapped, with a ransom of $1-million demanded; "The Big's" daughter Maude (Julianne Moore) who really should join a flying circus; Jesus (John Turturro), a champion bowler who prefers blue language and purple clothing; Walter Sobchak (John Goodman), probably "Dude's" best friend; and Donny (Steve Buscemi), another of "Dude's" close friends. Much time is spent on consuming White Russians as well as on bowling, kidnapping, cursing, extortion, sex, and... For many of us, this film is an acquired taste. I enjoy it more each time I see it; others, I realize, will not see it through to completion. For them, it makes no sense. In this context, I am reminded of Henry Ford's observation that whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right.
Rating: 
Summary: Will the Dude ever figure out what is going on here?
Review: Jeff Bridges does not play the title role in "The Big Lebowski." Bridges plays the Dude; David Huddleston plays the Big Lebowski, a rich guy with a young trophy wife named Bunny (Tara Reid). The problem is that the Dude and the Big Lebowski have the same name, which explains why when Bunny runs up debts the moronic pair sent to collet money from her husband end up at the house of the wrong Lebowski. From that moment on the Dude's life gets very confusing and he is clearly the person least capable of dealing with this confusion of anybody in the greater Los Angeles area, "The Big Lebowski" is only disappointing because it is the first film the Coen Brothers came out with after "Fargo." When you make a masterpiece it is hard to follow-up with something equally strong. Even "The Magnificent Ambersons" suffers in comparison to "Citizen Kane," and whatever happened to the guy who made "Titanic"? However, if "The Big Lebowski" came out after "Raising Arizona" nobody would have batted an eye. Not just because they both deal with a kidnapping that may or may not be a kidnapping, but also because the Coen Brothers have rounded up many of the usual familiar faces from their other films for this endeavor. There are two main questions in this film. The first is "What is going on?" Repeatedly the Dude sits down and explains to his friends Walter (John Goodman) and/or Donny (Steve Buscemi) what he thinks is going on, or Walter takes a stab at it, and the odds are that sooner or later they are going to get it right. Just do not put money down on it. The second is what, if anything, the Dude will have left at the end of this meandering story. You get the feeling that chances are neither the Dude nor his car are going to get out of this one alive and that his friends are as much a threat to the Dude (and his car) as the growing number of enemies who keep popping up through the festivities. If only the Dude did not own a rug that really pulled his apartment together, then he might have been spared a lot of pain and frustration. "The Big Lebowski" is a film that will grow on you, especially once you get atuned to the idea that the Dude is trying to keep his life together, the same way his beloved rug pulled together his apartment. Even a misfire by the Coens is going to have some memorable moments and every film they make certainly has a chance to be on the level of "Raising Arizona" and "Fargo," so even their second tier efforts are worth watching.
Rating:
Summary: Suggestion
Review: If you've never seen this movie I suggest you watch it at least five times before you form an opinion. The plot unfolds more and more every single time you see it. I think I am up to about my 134th time, and I still see new things. Its awesome. Greatest replay value of all times.
Rating:
Summary: Requires repeated watchings. Greatest movie ever.
Review: This movie is definitely funny. This is the type of movie where you get to know the details of the movie from repeat watchings. That means that the movie actually gets funnier the more you watch it. The world portrayed in the film is dark and seedy, and delicately crafted. It seems as though there's fifty movies' worth of events happening in this world, and that this movie is focusing on just enough to tell one story from one perspective. This movie focuses on the kidnapping of a crippled philanthropists' trophy wife, and the Dude (Jeff Bridges), an aging hippie bum, who gets stuck in the middle. The movie is a parade of twisted characters: nihilists, pornographers, artsy douchebags, and a ton of other people I can't quite remember. Everything comes together perfectly. Every actor makes his character come alive. The plot may seem a bit aimless the first time, but repeat watches will fix that. The humor does seem "smart", but isn't dry at all. Don't make your decision on this movie until you've seen it several times.
Rating:
Summary: Superb work from the Coens
Review: Another great movie by the Coen Brothers and one of my favorite works of theirs. This film is hilarious, and its somewhat confusing plot is absoulutly meaningless because of the great performances by Bridges and Goodman. Also, this film has some great supporting performances from John Turturro, Julianne Moore, and especially Phillip Seymour Hoffman whose mannerisms never cease to make eee laugh uncontrollably.
Rating:
Summary: COEN BROTHERS BEST
Review: I really think this is the best comedy the brothers have done yet. Jeff Bridges is great, but John Goodman steals the show.
Rating:
Summary: AM I WRONG?
Review: This is the funniest movie ever. John Goodman is amazing. AM I WRONG? I promise you will laugh your johnson? off.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious!
Review: I love this flick. Jeff Bridges, Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, and John Turturro are just fantastic. One laugh out loud moment after another. One of the funniest movies I've ever seen. The Coen Brothers funniest work, in my opinion, followed by "Raising Arizona" and "O Brother Where Art Thou?" Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Y'all really thought it was that funny.?
Review: The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen, 1998) The Big Lebowski is considered, at least by the users of IMDB, to be one of the best movies of all time (as I write this, it sits at #228 on the top 250). I seem to be not as big a fan of all things Coen as most people; while I found Miller's Crossing, Fargo, and The Man Who Wasn't There brilliant pieces of moviemaking, I was one of those unfortunate souls who found Raising Arizona unwatchable. The Big Lebowski wasn't that bad, to be sure, but it wasn't the laff riot advertised by its many fans, in my opinion. Jeff Bridges (Starman/Jagged Edge) stars as Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski, who suffers a fate common to many of us; someone mistakes him for another guy with the same name. Except it's not a credit card company or a telemarketer doing it, it's a pair of thugs trying to collect on a debt run up by Lebowski's (the other Lebowski, that is) wife (Tara Reid of Return to Salem's Lot, all grown up). In the course of roughing Lebowski (the poorer) up, one of the thugs decides that urinating on the carpet is an effective way of getting someone to pay a debt. So Lebowski (the poorer), urged on by his best friend Walter (John Goodman, in the performance of his career), decides to contact Lebowski (the richer, played by David Huddleston [The Wonder Years/Frantic]) to see if he can get a replacement rug. After all, the thugs meant to urinate on HIS rug. And it all goes downhill from there. Almost every review of this movie points out the many fine performances in here and attributes the movie's greatness to them. Certainly, the performances are fine, but one wonders if those who have said this to be Jeff Bridges' finest work have seen Starman or Jagged Edge; those who have called this Flea's best work have ever seen Dudes or Suburbia; Steve Buscemi's, Reservoir Dogs; Julianne Moore's, Hellcab or Far from Heaven; you get the idea. These are good performances, and some (especially those of Goodman and cameo appearer John Turturro) are great, but almost everyone here has shown themselves capable of this level of work in the past as well. And as we have been given a number of examples of in the past couple of years (In the Bedroom, White Oleander, Traffic, etc.), a number of great performances are all well and good, but if they don't add up to anything do not necessarily make for a great film. Such is the case here. The visual artistry that made The Man Who Wasn't There or O Brother, Where Art Thou? such treats is notably absent here; Coen seems to have opted to make a film that was "straight" on its surface and all too queer underneath (a technique, it should be noted, that worked exceptionally in Fargo). When it works, it works, when it doesn't, it doesn't. Worth a rental, anyway, but not a keeper like so many other Coen Brothers films. ** 1/2
Rating:
Summary: Nuts
Review: This is the type of movie that you have to see over and over again to really appreciate. It gets so much funnier every time. Jeff Bridges is a complete loser living in Los Angeles who manages to get himself caught up in wheeling-and-dealings with the upper tier, and at the same time, never just takes everything that comes at him with hardly a flinch. The Coen Brothers manage to take the wierdest characters and situations and twist them around to make them very very funny.
|
