Sometimes confusing plot saved by great characters and quality writing

Rating: 10/10 (8 November 2002)

The first Coen brothers film I saw was 'Fargo'. That was a great film, if a little short. Then I saw this. Now, when I first watched this I expected a gory, dark film like 'Fargo'. What I got surprised me. This film was quite mellow and laid back for the Coens, at least in terms of sheer, gory violence. But then the plot went off in all sorts of directions and at times became confusing but one thing remained noticable, The sheer quality of the writing and the great acting. The Dude is a warm, lovable fool who just wants to live his life and not have people mess it up. For me what made the dude such a great lead character was the quality performance from Jeff Bridges. The way in which he makes the dude appear confused but also clever is totally believeable. For me the dude was one of the most likeable heroes since Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction. As good as Bridges is as the dude one actor outshines him. John Goodman as Walter. Walter is a mentalist but also a good man and Goodman manahes to portray this with ease. IMO this is his best performance to date. Of course no film would be complete without quality dialogue and The big Lebowski has this in spades. For all the profanity there is real meaning and thought gone into the writing and it helps give character to the characters in much the same way that Glengarry Glen Ross' writing did.