The Big Lebowski a retro review of The Dude by Ryan Ellis June 1, 2005
My Tagline---It really ties the whole room together
Leave it to the Coen brothers to make movie about a bowler who never actually bowls. But then, 'The Big Lebowski' is no more about bowling than 'Fight Club' is about underground boxing matches. Even if the brilliant brothers' 1998 noir send-up is absurd, it's absolutely hilarious. As profane and silly as this movie is, it'll bust your gut. It's hysterical just listening to John Goodman go on a rampage of four-letter words and looking like he's about to have a massive coronary in the process. I'm not even sure how to review such a comedy, unless I just rattle off all the best jokes (many of which will find their way into this review).
For what it's worth, there IS a plot somewhere here, one that's modeled on '40 film noir (including 'The Big Sleep', which didn't make a lot of sense either). After an opening narration in which the raspy-voiced Sam Elliott admits he's lost track of what he was saying, we meet Jeff Lebowski, known far & wide as the Dude (or His Dudeness or Duder or El Duderino, if you're not into the whole brevity thing). Played perfectly by the underrated Jeff Bridges, the Dude is a Los Angeles laze-about who has no job and spends most of his time either at the bowling alley or smoking pot in the tub. One night, two thugs corner Duder in his modest home, threaten our chilled-out hero with violence, and then pee on his rug.
When the Dude realizes they're looking for a different Jeffrey Lebowski, he approaches the crippled title character for money to pay for the soiled carpet (since, as he mourns, "it really tied the whole room together"). There's no money forthcoming, but the big Lebowski (David Huddleston) later decides to pay El Duderino a tidy fee if he'll find the kidnapped Mrs. Lebowski (Tara Reid). In one of the most ineffective manhunts ever attempted, the Dude enlists his volatile bowling partner Walter Sobchak (John Goodman, who was given the assignment of imitating macho 'Conan The Barbarian' director John Milius) to help him track down the trophy wife...and, thus, maybe score enough bread to buy a new rug. And they're dealing with all this while finding the time to win match after match on their way to the local bowling championship.
The supporting cast is terrific. You've got John Turturro as Jesus the bowler, a pedarast who vows that "nobody fucks with the Jesus". Julianne Moore (with an English---or is that Hepburnish?---accent) is the big Lebowski's resentful daughter, a conceptual artist and a woman who's looking for the right man to knock her up. Steve Buscemi is meek little Donny, the awesome bowler and polar opposite to every violent character he'd played up to that point. Mr. Pink wouldn't let someone tell him to "shut the fuck up...you're out of your element!" but Donny doesn't seem to mind it. Sharp character actors like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Peter Stormare, Ben Gazzara, and of course Sam Elliott effectively play off the goofy main characters.
Even after 4 or 5 viewings, I don't know if I've ever been able to follow the who-did-what-to-whom elements of the story, but it never mattered. It's all about the characters and the dialogue. Some of the best lines sound like they were thought up on set that day, but the exacting Coens don't leave a lot of room for improvising. Their scripts are usually as precise as any in the business. It might seem easy to write a screenplay with so many uses of the words "fuck" and "man". Try it, though. I've been looking for a way to slip "careful, man, there's a beverage here" into everyday situations. Hasn't happened yet, but I'm hopeful.
Is this working for you? Am I getting across how funny it is? If not, that's probably because you can't explain comedy. The Coens are better than any other writers at finding humorous ways to say mundane things. I don't recall laughing so hard at so much swearing, especially when the exasperated Dude bitches out the Vietnam-obsessed Walter with a string of four-letter words. Try quoting this movie to your friends. You'll get laughs, but unless you can do a decent Jeff Bridges or John Goodman impersonation, it's not gonna be the same as watching the movie.
As funny as 'Fargo' is, as odd as 'Barton Fink' is, and as twisted as 'Blood Simple' is, Joel & Ethan never earned more laughs than they did with 'The Big Lebowski'. Even though the film was not a big hit when it was released in the spring of '98, it usually finds its way onto the IMDb's Top 250 worldwide fan poll. Don't ask me to pick my favourite Joel & Ethan picture because almost all of them are fantastic, but 'The Big Lebowski' is the funniest.
The Dude is no Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade or even Mike Hammer. They were super-tough private dicks from decades gone by. The Coens have paid tribute to those kinds of anti-heroes over and over in their work, but the anti-anti-hero in 'The Big Lebowski' is a wonderful modern take on the genre. Kidnappings, murder, blackmail, and sudden death? All that is here too, just as it is in classic noir. As memorable as Marlowe & Spade & Hammer were, The Dude lazily trumps 'em all. He's gonna go on bowling, drinking, toking, and slacking forever. He's takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. And I sure hope he makes the finals.
To show me how well you can roll, write to ryan222@rogers.com or flickershows@hotmail.com
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