I Was A Bit Underwhelmed By This Film...

Rating: 6/10 (5 January 2007)

First of all, I love the Coen brothers. Just about every one of their films is stunningly written, with enough wit in their dialogue to rival Tarantino in his 'Pulp Fiction' form. Stunningly directed, riotously funny and brimming with unique and colourful characters, their films are always a pleasure to watch.
Jeff Bridges portrays Jeffrey Lebowski, a man who'd rather just be called The Dude. However, when criminals mistake him for a rich Jeffrey Lebowski (The Big Lebowski), a misinformed break-and-entry results in The Dude's prized rug getting urinated upon. "That rug really held the room together," a dejected Dude remarks, and so he goes to visit The Big Lebowski, whom he considers responsible for such an unpleasant occurrence. Little does The Dude realise that his visit will bring about considerable more trouble than just a soiled rug...
'The Big Lebowski,' like most Coen brothers' films, is certainly a funny and reasonably well-written story, however, I found myself slightly underwhelmed by it. A lot of the time, it felt like weird characters were simply thrown into the mix simply to be weird, without serving any real purpose. I'm yet to work out the reasons for including the Stranger (Sam Elliott), whose cowboy-type character narrates the the beginning and the end of the story, with a brief cameo appearance somewhere in the middle. The completely unnecessary breaking of the "fourth wall" at the end of the film just seemed out of place with the rest of the story. And how did the Stranger even know about the Dude's story, having just exchanged a few words with him at the bowling bar? It beats me, but perhaps I'm just completely missing the point.
However, these grievances aside, it must be said that there are many genuinely funny moments in this film, most of them arising from John Goodman's perfectly-played character, Walter Sobchak. With stunning comedic timing, the Coen film regular (Barton Fink, O Brother Where Art Thou) hilariously spouts out his well-written dialogue, which usually (for no apparent reason) references Sobchak's own service in the Vietnam War, or otherwise belittles his under-appreciated and often-ignored bowling partner Donny Kerabatsos (Steve Buscemi).
'The Big Lebowski' is a funny film, and well worth your time. However, I was simply unable to take it seriously as a film (nor should I have tried), so I couldn't rate it any higher. It just didn't have the professional class of the Coen brothers' other films...