The Coen Brothers flex their versatility with weird and zany

Rating: 8/10 (24 March 2017)

John Goodman and Jeff Bridges are an absolutely fantastic duo in The Big Lebowski. However, I want to talk about the direction of the Coens' for this film. The writing also reminded me of Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice a decent amount, and I definitely mean that as a positive.
However, the Coen brothers' direction is for me what brings the other components of the film together. The film's weird psychedelic scenes, the slow motion bowling with John Turturro, and the wonderful use of space, particularly with the houses of the two Lebowskis, all add comedic, eccentric depth to an otherwise still funny movie. The trip The Dude takes when he lays down on his floor on his rug and starts flying is one of the psychedelic scenes that comes to mind. it feels so odd, but in another way, entirely right. John Turturro's (Jesus Quintana) character does not have much to him other than the beautiful slow motion bowling scene, but man is that enough. Finally, I got to thinking about the disparity of space between the two Lebowski places. The Dude's place is relatively small, but it's there that we go on a trip (and Treehorn's place, but that's for another time) that opens up to the whole city. Whereas when we are at The Big Lebowski's place, The Dude, Brandt, Bunny, and almost anyone who enters looks small in comparison to the space of the house. It's an interesting dichotomy that truthfully may not mean much, but it's something small (I guess pun intended) that makes the direction of the movie more special. It's also just a legitimately very funny movie that really does thrive off the duo of Goodman and Bridges. It's weird and it's frequently nonsensical, but it's still worth a watch.