I'm not Mr. Lebowski. You're Mr. Lebowksi. I'm the Dude.

Rating: 8/10 (27 July 2014)

The Coen brothers' movies never cease to amazed me. From Blood Simple to Raising Arizona, these two cinematic geniuses always made me laugh and also enlightened me in any situation they put on the big screen. Yet even in the slightest sense sometimes, their stories can be twisted, but hilarious. And after seeing The Big Lebowski twice on DVD, I can finally sit down and write a critical review of the movie.
The story takes place in Los Angeles in the year 1991. Jeffery "The Dude" Lebowski, (Jeff Bridges), is not your average movie hero. In fact, the Narrator, (Sam Elliot), tells us in the beginning of the movie that the Dude is considered the laziest man in Los Angeles. He's a loner, a loser and a fan of drinking White Russians. The Dude also has friends like his bowling buddies, Walter Sobchak, (John Goodman), an angry Vietnam veteran, and Donny, (Steve Bucemi), an simpleton who doesn't seem to pay attention to somebody's conversations. When the Dude is ambushed at his home, he realizes that the guys who assaulted him got the wrong man. He soon finds out that there's a another man who has the same name, Jeffery Lebowski, (David Huddleston). The big Lebowski, (Huddleston), wants the Dude to find his kidnapped wife after receiving a ransom note from the kidnappers. So, the Dude and Walter decides to bring the ransom money to the kidnappers since they were given instructions from them. Unfortunately, this doesn't go as planned. The Dude and Walter failed to bring the money and as a result, the Dude receives news that the culprits cut off her toe. With evidence pending, The Dude decides to investigate the mystery along with Walter as the story deepens into bizarre twists and turns involving a porno king, (Ben Gazzara), who uses the Dude to star in one of his films.
After seeing this movie twice, I started to figure out why this movie became a cult movie of its own. And I think I know why. Most movies consists on telling stories that have a meaning to it. The plot can be either straight forwarded or filled with many twists and turns. There isn't really any meaning to The Big Lebowski. Maybe audiences are tired of seeing movies that are predictable or recycled. In fact, I am also one of those people who can't stand watching films that are recycled from the screenplay factory. The Coen brothers don't fall into that specific category. These two men can write sharp and witty dialogue. Some might even compare this movie to Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. What these two movies have in common is, yes, they are set in the City of Angels, but also to make a point, the way the characters in both movies talk in such a way that it's sounds screwy and also funny at the same time. It's rare today to see films that are dialogue-driven. I know for a fact that some audience members don't like too much dialogue. I can understand that statement. But, dialogue doesn't hurt. It certainly doesn't.
Out of all of the characters that the Coen brothers has written in their films, I have to say that the Dude is, perhaps, the best well-written character that they could come up with. In many ways, The Dude lives by his own rules and doesn't seem to pay attention to the world around him. When he has to investigates the kidnapping, he does his way rather than stopping and looking over the specific details that are involved in the crime. It's almost as if he consumes most of the evidence through his brain and finally after so many complications, he finally understands what is going on. On the other hand, Walter is also like the Dude. Walter is, unlike the Dude, a Vietnam veteran who doesn't like to be wrong on the things that he does, yet he thinks he's being blame for the wrongdoings that he did while serving in Vietnam, hence his repeated line, "Am I wrong?". Another similarity is that he and the Dude are somehow stuck in the early 90's. They think they are still living in the 60's.
Jeff Bridges is wonderful as the Dude. He brings a lot of heart into his character. He makes the Dude likable because of his on-screen presence. John Goodman is very funny as Walter, the angry Vietnam veteran who reluctantly agrees to help the Dude with his investigation. Among the supporting performers are Julianne Moore as Lebowski's daughter, who specializes in pornography. John Turturro is also well casted as Jesus, the gay Latino bowler who is always eyeing the Dude, Walter and Donny, since they are competing him in a bowling tournament. And I wouldn't want to leave out Phillip Seymour Hoffman's and Julianne Moore's performances. Those two performers did a very good job portraying their own characters with sharp writing.
What I also like about the movie is the bowling aspect. This is a very good movie about bowling even though it is a not sports movie. But furthermore, The Big Lebowski is also an ambitious movie that tries to crammed as much as it could because they are so many things going throughout the entire movie. You have a mystery, a kidnapping, a bowling tournament, an investigation, pornography, a rug that the Dude owns that had been peed on, and German nihilists. How could one movie fit all of this in? Well, ambition is the key and so is the writing that drives this movie altogether. ★★★ 1/2 3 1/2 stars.