Iconic Character, Peerless Film

Rating: 10/10 (25 January 2020)

Joel and Ethan Coen have done so much so brilliantly, but nothing more wondrous than perma-wrapping a former 60s radical in a sweater and pajama pants and transforming him into an easy argument for the most iconic character in modern comedic cinema. So goes The Dude in "The Big Lebowski."
Mixing the once-disparate ingredients of stoner flick, L.A. noir, and dark comedy with telltale signs of a buddy movie, it's likely the genius casting of Jeff Bridges as the leisure-adamant Jeffery "The Dude" Lebowski that most acutely prescribed greatness for this one-of-a-kind film. The opportunity for an iconic performance was sure to have gone unrealized if placed in lesser-skilled hands, and Bridges' middle-aged, self-realized Dude is set into full motion by terrific fellow slackers of their own unique brands: Endearingly hostile Vietnam vet Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) and the charmingly carefree Donny Kerabatsos (Steve Buscemi) conspire with The Dude to squelch the machismo-driven bowling game of convicted Jesus Quintana (a remarkable John Turturro). Yet when a pair of arm breakers mistake him for a SoCal fat cat who shares his Lebowski surname, The Dude seeks out this Big Lebowski and demands recompense. "The Big Lebowski" then begins its next-level ascent to wildly creative zeniths, mixing surrealist fantasy, bowling, and suspect private eye work into a joyously burlesque stew. We dial straight in to The Dude's laissez fare mindset as he wanders into an ensemble of wonderfully sketched characters placed throughout fascinating scenes.
In their interviews, the Coen brothers underplay what they must know they achieved with "The Big Lebowski." In Bridges' manifestation, we see the idler -- but we also see the possibilities of a truly carefree existence realized by living comfortably in one's own skin. And that, perhaps, is this comedy's most aspirational of its many achievements. "The Big Lebowski" has a seat on the rug in the highest tier of uniquely great films. - (WATCHED IT? THEN WATCHLIST: "Being John Malkovich (1999)," "Stadium Anthems (2018)," "Snatch (2000)")