The Dude Sort of Abides

Rating: 7/10 (19 June 2014)

Spoiler alert: Some plot outcomes revealed.
The Dude abides, but Sam Elliot rules. Jeff Bridges is classic as the former, a pot-smoking do-nothing seeking payback for a urine-doused rug. The latter plays a mysterious cowboy-like character who chides Bridges' hapless bowler about his language but likes his style. Elliot is The Stranger.
The movie's theme is mistaken identity, the effect of drugs on less- than-normal people, and how clueless rich people can truly be. The flavor, flow and overall senseless meaning of the movie underscores what happens when you portray goofs and drug-users in conflict with money- minded wackos.
The shock-and-awe factor of this movie is not unlike Bad Grandpa, a 2013 send-up of a horny old grandfather featuring the star of Cable TV's Jackass show. Both movies are disjointed, purposefully themed to be off the wall, and are surprisingly funny.
In The Big Lebowski, Jeffrey Lebowski is a ne'er-do-well Los Angeles bowler who hangs out with his com-padre "kegglers," Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) and Donny, formally Theodore Donald Karabatsos (aka Steve Buscemi). Donny's an often-insightful dweeb who dies near movie's end. Walter's an angry, sort-of-Jewish convert who at one point produces a Colt .45 semi-automatic pistol from his bowling bag. You quickly realize none of these guys are playing with a full deck.
The Dude's brain is pot-fogged and White Russian soaked. Walter, at least, is capable enough to drive, but he mistakenly thinks he fought in Vietnam. And later he collects the then-deceased Donny's ashes in a coffee can, casting them into the wind near movie's end – and back on The Dude and him.
Sad to say The Dude Lebowski is mistaken by porno-movie collection apes for a very wealthy man by the same name. That would be The Big Lebowski, a condescending seeming 1-percenter yet handicapped war vet. He's played by character actor David Huddleston. Well-selected as his sycophantic servant Brandt is the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
The urine on The Dude Lebowski's apartment rug is dispersed evilly by a couple arm-twisting thugs owed money by the Big Lebowski's bimbo trophy wife. The Dude is angry, and goes to see his wealthy name-sharer seeking a new rug, or more correctly a handout for the wrongful retribution. Only in America would such a chance meeting end up in a job offer. Bunny Lebowski's (Tara Reid)being held for big money, but not really. Dude accepts the mission, recruiting his pals.
It truly is Bunny the wife who owes the porno mobsters money, not the wheelchair-bound war-hero millionaire Lebowski.
The Dude is tasked with paying ransom for Bunny, Big Lebowski's wayward and carefree wife. Along comes Donny and Walter for the ride, Goodman's guy complete with his skewed world view and free-floating hostility.
You know Big Lebowski's trophy wife is out of the kidnap plot when you see that one of the abductors is dumb enough to whack off a toe to add urgency to the fake scheme.
The three supposed heroes-turned-bag-men interrupt their bowling "career" to save Bunny. This includes a pin-slaying showdown between The Dude and Jesus Quantana (John Turturro). You know these dueling bowlers will meet again when Jesus implies that he will beat The Dude so badly that it will be like a forceful administration of anal sex.
Why? It's the whole prevalent drugs meets greed and silliness theme driven home with an 8-pound figurative sledgehammer.
Portions of this movie are too bizarre to believe. (That's why I mentioned Sam Elliott, who rarely gets credit.) There's even an old-time psychedelic-rock interlude by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition: "I Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In." The song plays as the Dude floats down a dream-state bowling alley while spinning rotisserie style. He passes admiringly beneath the legs of skirted identically dressed comely females. No clear reason or plot tie. It's just done.
The angles, camera perspectives and even dialog are intended to underscore a pot-hazed plot. The Dude looks up from the floor at several points, flops over a chair in The Big Lebowski's office, and slurps White Russians. Walter has wild ideas about conspiracies. And Donny is always quieted with the same idiotic refrain: "Shut the F-- up, Donny."
The Stranger says he likes The Dude's style, yet he also assails the White Russian-fueled Lebowski for a potty mouth. Say what? Head on camera shots, and Elliot's serious demeanor, add to the zany disconnected nature that prevails throughout as the movie's cult-fan theme. So does the quirkiness of all the other actors, especially Walter. Several times he has to be reminded that, no, he wasn't in Vietnam.  And Donny's rodent-like appearance lends credence to Buscemi's character.
Near film's end, The Dude ends up in bed with a porn-movie producer and actress intent on becoming impregnated with his baby. Maude Lebowski (Julianne Moore) is an acrobatic little minx whose relationship to any other Lebowski seems unclear.
The Big Lebowski is a movie with great potential, as long as you don't take any of it too seriously.
Because the point is: Life is short, don't over-analyze it, and enjoy. The Dude, as each of us, merely abides.