No, Dude, we don't mind if you do a J...

Rating: 10/10 (29 August 2001)

It's the little things about a Coen-constructed universe (read "film") that make me laugh, and "Lebowski" is no exception.
Case in point:
The Dude is lazy, has no job and lives, er, slacks in Venice Beach, where he painfully scrawls out a check for $.69 for White Russian fixin's--specifically Half-and-Half--at the local supermarket. Not exactly the most intelligent mind on the planet. Yet he knows the exact street in North Hollywood where to find the In-N-Out burger (for those who are LA-challenged, North Hollywood is about 20 miles inland and worlds away from the beach). Makes you wonder if somewhere in that hazy melon of his he knows every location in LA County. Of course he knows this. It would be out of character if he didn't.
And another:
At Jackie Treehorn's Malibu beach pad, Treehorn grills the half-baked Dude as to where Bunnie Lebowski might be. Suddenly the conversation is interrupted by a phone call and Jackie scrawls info on a pad while on the phone. We get the requisite zoom-in close-up as the Dude watches from across the room. Jackie excuses himself and exits. The Dude as Philip Marlowe rushes to the pad and lightly traces onto it. Instead of an address or any useful info about the aforementioned phone conversation, he instead traces a picture of an man, shall we say, standing at attention. Of course he does. Treehorn is the self-described "publisher" who created "Logjammin'"...what else did you expect to find on the pad?!
Now I'll concede that events like this can not possibly sustain a film, and I think "Lebowski" was lambasted because it is a film not about story, but about a collection of characters. Funny characters. In fact, even the idea of taking a burn-out and dropping him in the middle of a convoluted Marlowe noir-like caper is enough to make me start laughing.
Yes, the language is crude. Yes, it sometimes feels like a collection of scenes strung together. I will say, however, this film is incredibly funny and hits the mark again and again.