Allegorical Genius

Rating: 10/10 (22 December 2004)

The Big Lebowski is rare in the world of motion pictures. It's like a well written book (like Dune or LOTR) in that you can walk away with something new from it with each repeated viewing. The Cohen brothers put a lot of thought into their films, and the Big Lebowski is no exception.
Talking crap about a movie is the easiest thing to do, and I've read a few reviews that have done just that about Lebowski. In these people's defense, it's easy to jump to this conclusion because at first glance, it appears to be a meaningless film. But if it were meaningless, why set the film during the first Gulf War? Why do a period piece set 7 years before the movie's release? Because they're playing with allegory here, trying to say something about America.
There is much evidence of this. The perceptive viewer will note that we're dealing with clearly cut characters that embody archetypes of American culture. We're also dealing with events that mimic the political and sociological landscape of 1991. In addition, most period pieces splash nostalgia all over the screen, but there's hardly any in Lebowski. This movie is a humorous, tongue-in-cheek statement about the health of the American character circa 1991.
But even if you take the meaning of the movie out of the equation, The Big Lebowski is a top notch film. The characters and their interactions in the movie are entertaining. The direction plums the depths of their potential and brings it out for us to enjoy. The scenes work to promote the themes of the movie and give us a good laugh in the process. The Cohens did their job and then some on this one, and it seems to me like they had a damn good time doing it.