Classic Coen Brothers.

Rating: 7/10 (20 January 2016)

After being beaten by thugs who mistake him with somebody of the same name, Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) confronts millionaire Jeff Lebowski on the mistaken identity, a confrontation that will lead to several bizarre and unforeseeable twists for him and his two bowling buddies, (John Goodman, Steve Buschemi).
I'll be the first to say I do not see what all the buzz is about with this film. For some reason hipsters like to blow this up to be an absolute masterpiece, which is endlessly praised, quoted, and cos played. I like it a lot, but to me it doesn't stand out nearly as well as some of Coen's others, even though I still enjoy it. To me, it's a clever, fun, stoner comedy with a great cast and characters, but that's where it stops for me honestly.
The characters are very colorful, Jeff Bridges is perfectly cast as the Dude, an icon that is mercilessly cos played, and he is funny in the movie. John Goodman as former Vietnam lieutenant Walter Sobchak is a great backup for The Dude as he mostly plays the muscle for all the predicaments they get involved in. Steve Buschemi's character was good overall, even though he doesn't get much screen time. What's great is that even the small roles in the film who get one or two scenes, still make an big impact on the film in the few scenes they're in. I can't very well make a Big Lebowski review without mentioning Jesus, the bowler for an enemy team of the Dude's bowler team, excellently cast by John Turturro, one of my favorite Coen alumni. Others like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julianne Moore are also quite entertaining for the few scenes they are in.
When I first watched it, I thought the plot was very bloated, lots of scenes and subplots that really go nowhere. Even though it adds to some funny scenes, overall it doesn't amount to much, but oh well. Regardless of my small complaints with this movie, it's a very fun, well made film with some entertaining characters, with some slight editing issues. Solid nonetheless