Film Review

Rating: 9/10 (19 December 2014)

It is easy to forget that The Big Lebowski is a mystery, like the Coen brothers' previous hit, Fargo. Where Fargo is dark, The Big Lebowski is a parody. Hidden in the jokes, satire, idiosyncratic characters, and musical numbers, the story is about a hippie "bum," geniusly portrayed by Jeff Bridges, who is unwittingly sucked into becoming a pawn in kidnapping and embezzling scams. As the narrator, The Stranger (Sam Eliot) roundaboutly puts it, "Sometimes there's a man--I won't say a hee-ro, 'cause what's a hee-ro?--but sometimes there's a man. And I'm talking' about the Dude here--sometimes there's a man who, wal, he's the man for his time'n place, he fits right in there--and that's the Dude" (The Big Lebowski). In some ways a monomyth, The Dude takes us on an anti-hero's journey. The Dude's legal name happens to be the same as a bigwig whose trophy bride and former porn star, Bunny (Tara Reed), owes money to a porn producer, Jackie Treehorn. The producer's goons confuse the two Jeffrey Lebowskis and micturate on the Dude's room-tying-together rug. This sets off a chain of events that begins with The Dude seeking reparations from the Big Lebowski (David Huddleston) on the advice of his bowling buddies Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) and Donny Kerabatsos (Steve Buscemi). This leads into him becoming the wealthier Lebowski's patsy in his plot to embezzle funds from his wife's foundation, because the Big Lebowski replaces his wife's ransom money with a ringer, intending to frame The Dude for its loss. The Dude ultimately and unwittingly undermines the scheme by solving the mystery after determining that they had "replaced the ringer with a ringer." He further subverts The Big Lebowski by knocking up his only daughter, Maude (Julianne Moore). A major theme of The Big Lebowski is masculinity, its stereotypes, and their deconstruction. The Big Lebowski analyzes his masculinity, asking The Dude, "What makes a man? Is it. . . is it, being prepared to do the right thing? Whatever the price? Isn't that what makes a man?" To which, The Dude quips, "Sure, that and a pair of testicles." The motif of masculine stereotypes is repeated throughout the film and each character the Dude encounters on his journey is a different stereotype, even caricature, of manliness, most of which are expertly subverted. Jeffrey "The Big" Lebowski appears wealthy and powerful, but is physically confined to a wheelchair and we learn that the money belonged to his wife and is wrapped up in a charitable foundation, so he actually has relatively little control. His bark is significantly worse than his bite. Brant (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) is educated with what is potentially a high-powered position, yet is a sycophantic flunky. You can almost see his tail tucked between his legs. Walter is a trigger-happy, ultra-militaristic war hero, stuck in the Vietnam era. He destroys a shiny, new Corvette with a baseball bat while shouting, "This is what you get when you f*** a stranger in the ass." The Jesus is a hyper-sexualized, pederast, who literally licks a ball during his introduction. The Stranger is a Cowboy. Jackie Treehorn is a wealthy pornographer, surrounded by scantily-clad women. Karl Hungus/Dieter/Lead Nihilist is Bunny's porn costar, and his fellow nihilists/pretend-nappers are over-the-top aggressive and obsessively attempting to castrate The Dude. The only two female characters are also a mishmash of stereotypes. Bunny is a porn star, trophy wife, farm girl, and runaway. Maude is a privileged, educated, feminist and creator of "strongly vaginal" artwork. She tests The Dude's masculinity by saying "vagina" and several synonyms in an attempt to unnerve him.