Review of The Big Lebowski (1998) by Brendan C — 24 Mar 2013

"You are entering a world of pain." - Walter Sobchak (John Goodman).

"The dude abides." _ The Dude (Jeff Bridges).

The big Lebowski is a comedy that gets better when you re-watch it. It is very good the first time, but I loved it the second time. I rarely ever watch a movie twice, and I am selective about the ones I will watch twice, and I decided to watch this twice because I thought I would appreciate the humor more the 2nd time. I was completely right, and it was even better the 2nd time. It is better the 2nd time, because you pick up on little things. Like the line "The aggression will not stand." I noticed the 2nd time that he heard that on TV in the opening scene at the grocery store. The film also has humor that you may not get the first time, but you will the 2nd time. I say that because that is what happened with me.

Plus the film is really ridiculous, and kind of wild so there is a bit of a shock factor in it. Also now that Jeff Bridges is an academy award winning actor it is weird to see him in this. It also shows what a good actor he is when you see how good he is in this, and when you see how good he is in Crazy Heart, and the remake of True Grit. John Goodman plays Walter Sobchak, and he plays his typical funny self, but he is way crazier in this then most of his other stuff. His character is loud, moronic, and wild. But that is why he is so funny in this. I love John Goodman in everything he does, because he always cracks me up.

Jeff Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) goes by the name "The Dude." He sometimes talks in 3rd person and he calls himself that. He is really poor; in fact he is so poor that he has to write a check to buy milk, because he doesn't have enough money to carry around with him. One night he comes home to his disgusting apartment and two men are there and they are asking him for the money that he doesn't have. They then realize that they have mistaken him for another Lebowski, but not before one of them urinate son his rug. That rug is the nicest thing that the Dude has, and it tied the room together. He eventually meets with the Big Lebowski (David Huddleston), and explains the situation that his wife owes money all around town, and that these people who urinated on his rug were looking for you and not for me. Eventually the Big Lebowski's wife has been kidnapped, and he asks the Dude to drop off the money to the kidnappers. When the ransom drop goes sour because of something that Walter does it sets off a series of really crazy and funny events. Bad things continue to happen to the Dude, and he must fix the situation before a couple nihilists' come over and kill him.

The film is a classic Coen Brothers film that stick out from all of the others, but it has a few of the same actors who were in his other films. It has John Goodman from Raising Arizona, and Steve Buscemi, and Peter Stormare from Fargo. John Turtorro is in two scenes, but he is hilarious in both of them. In a lot of comedies there will be something that comes in randomly at several points in the film, and when it does it is always hilarious. That was John Turtorro in the Big Lebowski.

The Coen Brothers are masters at black comedies. They are good at having things in their films that really stick with you, and you remember. Like this film has a lot of things that I remembered such as the nihilist's, the stuff with the rug, all of the trippy dreams he has, and individual characters like Jesus Quintana (John Turtorro). It is also very quotable, and I plan to quote this movie a lot with people that I know who love it. Another thing that I noticed was there was a triangle with how the three main characters got annoyed with each other. Walter was always telling Donnie (Steve Buscemi) to "shut the f!*$ up Donnie." And then The Dude would always get mad at Walter for being an idiot at times. It was a funny triangle that I picked up on the 2nd time I saw it. You see that a lot at the bowling alley. A lot of scenes take place at the bowling alley, because the three compete in tournaments together, and that is basically their main hang out place. My favorite scenes were there actually, and I won't say what they are too eave it as a surprise.

The film is memorable because it is like a funny and catchy song that you hear that is fun to listen too, and it sticks with you because you like how catchy it is. A lot of Coen Brothers films are like that. They are definitely an acquired taste, but like Quentin Tarantino when you acquire the taste they become some of your favorite movies.

This film is so clever, wild, and funny. It is ridiculous, and every other word was the f-bomb. There are many things that I will always remember from this, and it is one of my favorite comedies. One of the rare ones I can re watch. The Coen Brothers are always great, and I plan to see all of their films because I have loved all of the ones I have seen so far. I would recommend this to experienced movie watchers mostly.