My Favorite Comedy

Rating: 10/10 (3 March 2010)

This has been my candidate for the funniest film I have ever seen, ever since I caught it at a last chance theater late in its initial run.
It was a small theater in a multiplex. Total attendance was myself (solo), a thirty or forty something married couple, two young guys, a dating couple and another group of two or three college students.
A group dynamic soon established itself. We all became so sore from laughing that no one wanted to be the initial victim of the next gag. But each time someone would start laughing and we all helplessly joined in, EVERY TIME.
We really did think we could hold out once, but the next thing The Dude dropped the joint in his pants and his Torino ended up sideways in the alley. After that we gave up on even trying. It was the most powerful bonding experience I ever had with strangers in a theater.
I have always been completely high on Jeff Bridges' talent, wondering why he was not appreciated like DeNiro, Duvall, Hackman, Pacino, etc. It seemed odd to me that he will probably be remembered for playing this part, but now I think that might not be a bad fate after all. I think he is like Robert Mitchum - the best Hollywood actor alive, under appreciated because he makes it look so easy. Lebowski is the perfect example of that. It looks like a simple acting job but no one could have done it better, or even as well.
To give the Coen Brothers their due, the one-two-three roll of Fargo-The Big Lebowski-Oh Brother, Where Art Thou may be unmatched in cinema history. And they keep getting better.