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The collective cry of The Big Lebowski’s cult has been answered. Finally, after many DVD releases and Special Editions and whatnot, The Coen Brothers’ detective farce of mayhem, murder, and marijuana gets its HD debut. It’s been out for over 13 years and is constantly quoted by its fans. Chances are high that you’ve seen the film. Chances are even higher that you don’t need to be convinced of its masterpiece labeling. After all, it is the role of The Dude that continues to define Jeff Bridges as Jeff Bridges (now a bona fide country-rock artist). This is a career high for everyone involved in the project and a fine, fine ensemble of characters and actors. Simply put, The Big Lebowski rules.
Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen (Fargo, True Grit), The Big Lebowski turns Raymond Chandler’s gumshoe detective genre (namely The Big Sleep) on its ear with the introduction of The Dude (Bridges) as the titular lead fellow. He’s an unemployed type of loveable L.A. loser and full-time avid bowler. He’s also a victim of mistaken identity; a mistake that leads to the ruination of his rug. Inspired to collect what is due to him by the wrong-doers who mistook him for another man named Jeffrey Lebowski, The Dude takes matters in his own hands and pays the other Lebowski a visit.
General Coen Brothers weirdness ensues.
Things and ideas go south relatively quickly for The Dude. Once again called upon by Jeffrey Lebowski (David Huddleston) to find his kidnapped trophy wife, Bunny (Tara Reid), and deliver her ransom, The Dude finds himself listening more to his friend and Vietnam war veteran Walter Sobchak (John Goodman), who schemes out a plan for them to keep the money, than his own uncommon and stoned-out sense.
Narrated by a lone cowboy known only as “Stranger” (Sam Elliot), the film also stars Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Ben Gazzara, and John Turturro as Jesus Quintana, the lead opponent in The Dude’s bowling league semifinals. Sharp as nails, the ensemble cast of The Big Lebowski makes an unforgettable time of wandering through the darkly comic world of The Coen Brothers. It’s also a great indictment of the failures of the baby boom generation and all the rest of us wiping the gunk up from under their boot heels, but why complicate matters with such thought? It’s a damn fine picture because it’s funny, heartbreaking and so incredibly true.
With the “f word” being dropped for a whopping total of 267 times, there’s no joke to the harsh and comical reality (or unreality?) the film portrays. To say the movie is ripe with juicy flavor and harsh criticism aimed toward your parent’s generation is an understatement. The characters are loaded with spicy ball-cleansing eccentricities and they carry the film to a wonderful cosmically-minded finale that never disappoints. Yet, family does matter…especially in the bowling alley – where The Dude becomes the wife to Walter’s violent husband persona and the inquisitive Theodore Donald "Shut the fuck up, Donnie!" Kerabatsos (Buscemi) becomes their child. It’s all wholesome and never insincere…to the sport of bowling, that is. Everyone else be damned.
Once again, Roger Deakins provides the look of the film with some snazzy and detailed cinematography that only adds to its motivational mojo to the film’s neo-conservative criticism. This is quality quirk, dear readers, the kind that apparently has no purpose except to be … quirksome. Maybe to a fault. Maybe not. I guess it all depends on your ability to do as The Dude does and just go with the flow.
What else can you do? I mean, the rug really tied the room together so how can you blame The Dude for what follows? There’s simply nothing normal about stoner shenanigans.
MPAA Rating: 
