The Dude

Rating: 7/10 (15 May 2019)

The 'dude' a.k.a. Jeff Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is unemployed and likes to bowl. He is unfortunately confused with another Jeff Lebowski who just happens to be very rich. When a case of mistaken identity causes the 'dude' to get beaten up and have his rug damaged he goes seeking retribution from his namesake, because 'the rug really tied the room together man'.
The dude's bowling buddies (John Goodman, Steve Buscemi) commiserate and offer their advice while they prepare to meet their arch rival Jesus (John Turturro) in the league playoffs.
Along the way the dude becomes involved in a kidnapping and runs across a number of strange characters including a fringe artist (Julianne Moore with a great throwback accent) and a group of German nihilist with a marmot.
Weird and at times muddled (intentionally I think) story about confused identities and bowling, the actual plot owes a lot to Raymond Chandler detective stories and films based upon them. Thus we a labyrinthine plot and a large cast of eccentric characters.
Features good performances across the board with some wonderful character work a trademark of a Coen brother's film. Also some surrealistic dream sequences and some effective camera tricks.
No really deep meaning here for me but it's an interesting exercise in film-making. Not among my favorites from them but It still very entertaining.