A brilliant portrait of a character and his friends

Rating: 10/10 (9 March 2018)

Watching this film I got a very strong sense that the Coen brothers created a character and then everyone involved in the film found themselves falling in love with him. There's so much absurdity in this film, but at it's heart is a character whose realness (in the sense of "keeping it real") grounds it all. So many things test the Dude's commitment to his own personal ethic and, in what is essentially a romp, the challenge to his moral compass creates layers one can't imagine from a synopsis of the film.
And it's all perfectly executed: Jeff Bridges is fantastic, John Goodman simultaneously aggravating and charming, the dialogue so snappy and the one liners so quotable. Then there's the sort of soundtrack that filmmakers can assemble when they're at the top of their game and direction that doesn't intrude, except when it wants to.
I hadn't seen this film for years, but there's so much going on I'm sure I could watch it again in a week and not be bored.