Review: The Big Lebowski (1998)
Written by: Brian J. Sumner
Many times in Hollywood there have been films that have gone into production and ultimately released to a mass audience that have had plots that were driven by happenstance. The lead finds themselves wrapped up in the middle of a tense situation and has to work its way out to find the proverbial “pot-o-gold at the end of the rainbow”. More times than not, the overall story of these films tend to fall flat due to a lack of believability of the story or just a general diminished interest in the characters and the plot. People tend to get skeptical of a characters ability to “save the day” if they don’t really believe in said character and those films tend to fail at an alarming rate.
Then there’s The Big Lebowski. A film that follows along those same kind of structured guidelines for the prototypical “happenstance” plot where you tag-a-long with the main character, Jeffrey Lebowski, or as he’s known to all his friends and bowling league chums, The Dude, on a weird, crazy, and hilarious journey involving bowling, hallucinogens, White Russians (the drink, not literal Caucasian folks from Russia), Nihilists, porn producers, and a kidnapping.
The Big Lebowski ©1998 Universal Studios
“Yeah, that rug really tied the room together.”
Our story gets set in the early 1990’s in Los Angeles, California with the help of some great voiceover work from the legend himself, Sam Elliott. We get introduced very early on to The Dude as he’s accosted by some hired muscle to pay a debt to a man named Jackie Treehorn whom he’s never met in his life. Turns out, he’s been mistaken with a man who shares his given birth name, Jeff Lebowski, who turns out to be a millionaire. After meeting with The Big Lebowski and trying to receive some compensation for his troubles, The Dude finds himself embroiled in the middle of a kidnapping/ransom scheme to shake down the millionaire, which starts a hilarious domino effect that takes our hero all over Los Angeles from Hollywood Hills to Malibu in the search for a missing wife and payment in the form of a replacement rug for the one that got damaged in the opening of the film. “Yeah, that rug really tied the room together.”
The film stars Jeff Bridges as the main character, The Dude, with John Goodman and Steve Buscemi along for the ride as his bowling league buddies, Walter and Donnie. Many great actors fill up the supporting cast from Julianne Moore to John Turturro with each person bringing something fantastic to the overall scope of the story. The writers and directors of the film, Joel and Ethan Coen, have always approached their film making with a certain level of quirkiness but a real underlying humanity to the characters they want portrayed. While The Dude is a flawed character, he has a big heart and real lovable nature to him that over the course of the film, you can’t help but fall in love with and root for him to figure out the mess he’s gotten himself into.
The Big Lebowski ©1998 Universal Studios
The story overall is solid and simple in its concept but far more abstract in its delivery to the audience that by the time you reach the end of the film, you want to watch it again so you can go back and pick up on stuff you may have missed the first time. The character interaction, specifically between the bowling buddies, is top notch, downright hilarious and also, very, very relatable and believable. With any great film, you’ve got to have a great soundtrack to help ease the story along and The Big Lebowski certainly delivers on the music.
All in all, The Big Lebowski is a really funny, slightly quirky, enjoyable movie experience. At its heart, it’s kind of a modern day mystery film, but with the hilarity and quirkiness turned up to about a twelve. You’ll laugh at the continued trouble that compounds on the main character as the film goes along, and then you’ll say to yourself, “Ah-ha!!” as the story unfolds and reveals all its secrets. I can’t praise this film enough as it literally checks off every single box for what a great film should be.
Brian J. Sumner is the Host of Dude, What?!, author of The Secrets of Dr. Killiecrankie and happens to be a White Russian. He doesn’t speak Russian but he has a free trial to Rosetta Stone.
