Cannot be missed

Rating: 10/10 (11 July 2006)

Writing and directing yet another cult classic, the Cohen Brothers have once again concocted a masterpiece that gets better with every viewing. Witty, intelligent, vulgar, happy, sad, The Big Lebowski runs through the gambit of emotions like few other films can match. Wrought with eccentric characters throughout the film, The Big Lebowski creates some of the most memorable characters on the Tinsel Town scene. Jeffery Lebowski (Jeff Bridges), who goes by the moniker 'The Dude', an unemployed burnout who enjoys driving around, bowling, and the occasional acid flash back. Walter Sobchak (John Goodman), a Vietnam veteran, converted Jew, who's still living in the past of both the Vietnam War and his former marriage with his ex-wife Cynthia. Theodore Donald Kerabatsos (Steve Buscemi), known as Donny, a California surfer who enjoys bowling, always seems a little lost, or at best a page behind the rest of the group. Jeffery Lebowski (David Huddleston), the real Jeffery Lebowski, the Big Lebowski, a paraplegic Korean War veteran supposed self made millionaire and head of the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers Foundation, who has a penchant for vanity, as evidenced by his choice of second wife, Bunny Lebowski (Tara Reid), a young, beautiful, porn star nymphomaniac. This is just a glimpse at a few of the movie's characters who inadvertently interact together and solidify one of the movie's greatest achievements: the dialogue. The array of characters that the Cohen Brothers create, along with the brilliant casting of each character, allows them to script some of the wittiest dialogue of any movie ever written. Ranging from absurd and vulgar to intelligent and insightful, the dialogue flows so naturally and meshes so intricately throughout the movie that multiple viewings are necessary to completely appreciate the skilled craftsmanship of the syntactical and grammatical structure employed by the characters. The Dude enjoys life's simple pleasures and leads a normal dysfunctional unproductive life of drinking, causal drug use, driving around, and most importantly, league bowling. His apartment has a rug, a rug that really ties the room together. That is until his rug is mitterated upon by two of Jackie Treehorn's thugs in an attempt to recover a sum of money from The Big Lebowski. After a brilliantly crafted brainstorming dialogue session at the bowling alley with his eccentric bowling team, Walter Sobchak and Donny, the Dude decides to rectify his rug situation by going to the real Jeffery Lebowski, whose rug the thugs were really trying to mitterate upon, and recover another rug, hopefully one that can match the old rug's ability to really tie the room together. Meeting with contempt and hostility from the Big Lebowski, the Dude eventually finagles a rug from the real Jeffery Lebowski's house. This episode marks the beginning of a precarious relationship between the two Lebowskis. The Big Lebowski calls upon the Dude after the Big Lebowski receives a ransom note stating that the love of his life, Bunny Lebowski, has been kidnapped. From here, the movie takes twists and turns as the Dude acts as courier of the ransom money and finds himself center stage in the whole kidnapping fiasco, mainly because he is in a unique position to either confirm or deny the carpet pissers as the identity of the kidnappers. As the movie culminates, the two Lebowskis have a final bout, exposing the true nature of each. Without wasting millions of dollars on special effects to fill in for thin plot lines and fluff for weak scenes and content, the Cohen Brothers displayed their prowess through manipulating language and intelligently designing one of the best movies ever produced. Every time I watch this movie, I find something that I previously missed. The Big Lebowski firmly cements the Cohen Brothers as Hollywood stalwarts in the movie industry.