Movie Monday: The Big Lebowski

I remember the first time I saw "The Big Lebowski" and how it completely rocked my world.

Writers/directors/producers/editors Joel and Ethan Coen (also responsible for such cinematic thrill-rides as "Fargo" and "No Country For Old Men") seem to turn almost everything they touch into gold.

"The Big Lebowski," although quite weird, and even more profane, is damn near close to a perfect movie.

It has a hint of detective fiction and a hint of "Alice in Wonderland," where our protagonist, Jeffrey Lebowski AKA The Dude (Jeff Bridges), finds himself falling deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole. And as he falls, it just gets weirder and weirder.

Let's first start with an attempt to describe the plot:

The Dude arrives home one evening to find several idiot gangsters in his apartment, who shove his face into the toilet, urinate on his rug and ask: "where's the money, Lebowski?"

As it turns out, there's another Jeffrey Lebowski who is quite wealthy--unlike The Dude--and whose young trophy wife Bunny (Tara Reid), owes the money.

When Bunny is kidnapped, the other Jeffrey Lebowski commissions The Dude to his service to make a payoff to the kidnappers. But when The Dude's unhinged, Vietnam War-vet friend Walter (played so perfectly by John Goodman) gets involved, the payoff doesn't go as planned, and our detective/Alice in Wonderland is even more lost.

Laughasaurus worthiness:

There are several reasons why "The Big Lebowski" is worthy of association with the big green dinosaur. The first is something that the Coen brothers do better than most any other filmmakers in Hollywood: casting.

They have an innate ability to select probably the most perfect actors for roles in their movies (it helps that they often write the screenplays with specific actors in mind). Other examples of this phenomenon would be Frances McDormand in "Fargo" and Javier Bardem in "No Country For Old Men."

In "The Big Lebowski" it seems as if everyone cast was born to play that role. I don't think anyone could have done The Dude better, and absolutely no one could replicate John Goodman as Walter.

Here's a clip (sorry about having to sign in to see it--Hulu has the best clips and they're trying to be responsible with all the F-bombs)



As you can see (or as I hope you can see), everything John Goodman says is hilarious. His wacked-out way of turning everything into a personal vendetta and a reason to bring up his involvement in Vietnam generates fistfuls of laughter and helps to drive the story.

The writing is a second reason why I selected this movie today, for even the best acting doesn't hold up against a flimsy screenplay. Each character has their own unique way of talking, interacting and just plain being.

Many of the jokes are then written in and derive from each character's way of being. If Walter wasn't a complete nut, then listening to him yell about how he is "shomer shabbos" (observing the Jewish sabbath by not using electricity), wouldn't knock me off my feet from laughing. Needless to say, it cracks me up.

Here's another clip, and again sorry about sign-in for R-rated viewing:



Among other well-cast characters--such as Philip Seymour Hoffman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore and John Turturro--trippy music sequences, mass confusion, and even a cameo from Sam Elliot, "The Big Lebowski" achieves everything its creators intended...and much more. Enjoy.