Gets better with every viewing

Rating: 9/10 (2 January 2013)

The Big Lebowski is simply a joy to watch, and gets better with every viewing. There's simply so much to see, from the absurd musical sequences to the sociopathic behavior of John Goodman's character Walter Sobchak. Just trying to make sense of the convoluted and completely ridiculous plot is a game onto itself. The movie has an enormous amount of quotable lines and the dialogue is some of the Coen brothers' finest.
The characters are all imaginative and memorable, with Jeff Bridges and John Goodman wrestling for the best part. Goodman's Walter Sobchak is easily one of the most unsympathetic and frankly crazy Vietnam-vet characters in cinema, what with him constantly referring to his battles in Vietnam or spouting obscenities at everyone in sight. But Bridges' the Dude is just as charming: writing a cheque of 0,69$, crashing his car after dropping a joint on his lap and constantly drinking white russians. Even the small characters like the side-splittingly hilarious Jesus Quintana, the police chief of Malibu or the black taxi driver you will laugh at time and time again. The amount of small but memorable characters is almost too much to count.
The movie has some issues, though. Because of the narrative being so convoluted and not being the point anyway, the film feels at times like a series of isolated sketches than a consistent whole. It can also be very confusing for first time viewers who will try to follow the plot. To fully enjoy this movie one has to be in a certain mindset.
Recommendation: Like all Coen brothers films, The Big Lebowski is not for everyone. But for those who enjoy this sort of comedy, finding a better film of this sort is hard.