The Cleverest comedy of all time?

Rating: Null/10 (29 August 2002)

The Coen brothers have a reputation for tight scripting, dark humour, intricate plots and of course, original types of violence and this film is no exception. The Big Lebowski focusses on a rather lazy and casual seventies dropout by the name of Geoffrey Lebowski who gets caught up into the world of rich billionaire Geoffrey Lebowski, already you can sense the Coen atmosphere. The film focuses on the seventies drop out (who refers to himself as the dude) and two of his closest friends, the other two members of his bowling team. The plot isn't really important, bearing in mind that it is actually very hard to define which element of the film is the plot because it changes so rapidly. The Coens bring together all sorts of odd ideas and peculiar settings and bind them tightly into one compact film, and it's one of their best. The script is absolutely impeccable (It's Coen, what do you expect) including elements of slapstick, razor sharp wit, marvelously original scenarios and an enormous span of diverse characters. The directing is also sublime, the lighting effective, the camera techniques subtle and almost comical in themselves and the performances by the cast are the height of all their careers. Jeff Bridges is perfect as the Dude and Steve Buscemi and John Goodman play his bowling buddies to perfection. Julian Moore is also excellent and Tara Ried makes a marvelous debut as Bunny Lebowski (such a shame that she started to do less sophisticated comedies such as American Pie. The film is accompanied by a brilliant soundtrack and has a nicely relaxed atmosphere, the film also manages to never take itself too seriously and reminds us that it is after all just a film for our entertainment, they're not trying to proove a point or change the world, just make a good film. They succeeded with flying colours, I wouldn't change a single second of it.