with the exception of their surrealistic satire barton fink , the films of joel and ethan coen fit into two broad categories : quirky and sometimes darkly humorous takes on the " film noir " genre in which crime schemes go wrong and spin increasingly out of control ( fargo , miller 's crossing , blood simple ) , and off - the - wall comedies centered around an eccentric , scatter - brained lead character ( raising arizona , the hudsucker proxy ) .
their latest offering , the big lebowski , falls within the latter category , though there are elements of the crime - gone - wrong theme and even a touch of satire to be found in this film .
the main difference , however , is that while the protagonists of raising arizona and the hudsucker proxy had lofty aspirations and ideals but did n't quite have the brains to get it all together , the main character of the big lebowski seems like a fairly intelligent guy who 's wise to the world , but he does n't really want to do much of anything besides go bowling , smoke pot , and generally relax .
that main character is jeffrey " the dude " lebowski ( jeff bridges ) , introduced by the film 's rambling narrator ( sam elliott ) as " quite possibly the laziest man in los angeles county .
"
the dude is unemployed , needless to say , and spends most of his time at the bowling alley with his two best friends , walter ( john goodman ) , a borderline - psychotic who 's in the habit of pulling a gun when he thinks somebody 's cheating in a bowling match ( " has the whole world gone crazy ? !
"
he shouts at a suspected cheater ) , and donny ( steve buscemi ) , who 's always a few steps behind the conversation and is constantly berated by walter for it ( " donny , you have no frame of reference here ! " ) .
these three seem to more or less live for bowling tournaments , and as the film begins they are anticipating an important match with rival bowler jesus quintana ( john turturro ) , who , when we first meet him , is doing a dance in the bowling lane to accompany a spanish version of " hotel california " and , if it 's possible , seems to be even more of a head case than walter .
if that does n't give you a good idea of this film 's absurdist tone , then perhaps this will : the entire scenario which drives the story is set in motion by two thugs mistakenly urinating on the dude 's rug .
they 've mistaken him for a millionaire of the same name who is also known as the " big " lebowski ( david huddleston ) and
whose nymphomaniac wife bunny ( tara reid ) owes money to porn producer jackie treehorn ( ben gazzara ) .
the dude goes to the big lebowski seeking compensation for his ruined rug ; he does n't have any luck , but when bunny is apparently kidnapped , the elder lebowski asks him to deliver the $ 1 million ransom .
unfortunately , walter gets involved and fouls up the drop - off , and before they can try again to get the money to the supposed kidnappers , the dude 's car gets stolen , along with the briefcase containing the money .
soon , the dude is being harassed not only by the big lebowski himself but also by treehorn and by a group of german " nihilists " who demand the ransom money even though they may not have been involved in the kidnapping in the first place ; the dude and walter suspect that bunny may well have kidnapped herself in order to extort money from her husband to repay her debts to treehorn .
meanwhile , the big lebowski 's daughter maude ( julianne moore ) , a feminist avant - garde artist who likes to make grand entrances swinging through the air naked , wants to recover the money for her family .
the plot , however , is really just a vehicle for all these bizarre characters to run wild and wreak their own unique forms of havoc .
the previews for the big lebowski feature creedence clearwater revival 's " run through the jungle , " and it fits : the coens see los angeles as a veritable jungle of oddballs and nutcases , with the sometimes bewildered dude left to run through it and try to avoid any more trouble ( usually unsuccessfully ) .
the film does n't feature quite as many one - liners and sight gags as the coens ' other comedies ( though there are a few hilarious moments of visual humor , particularly in the dude 's dream sequences and acid flashbacks ) , but it more than makes up for it with the sheer fun of watching these strange characters interact .
the film sometimes seems a little disjointed as a result - you get the feeling that the coens have not only set their characters loose in this " jungle " but are also themselves running crazy through the jungle of their own twisted imaginations -
but for the most part the characterizations are interesting enough to overcome the shaky plotting and what turns out to be a somewhat anticlimactic resolution .
there 's also a noticeable ( but not too heavy - handed ) thread of social commentary in the big lebowski , which , incidentally , takes place just as the gulf war is about to begin ; at the beginning , we see george bush on television making his " this aggression will not stand " speech .
the coens take aim at just about every elite l .
a .
subculture in the book :
the egotistical wealthy businessman ( " the bums will always lose ! " shouts the big lebowski at one point ) , the porn industry , the overbearing malibu policeman who berates the dude for disturbing their " peaceful beach community , " and so on .
by the end , we really start to admire the dude , who almost certainly harbors the least " aggression " of anyone in this story ; his passive resistance ( emphasis on " passive , " albeit ) to the elite emerges as something more than just another quirky characterization in a film overflowing with quirky characters .
he also turns out to have a pretty well - functioning brain in his head , even if he does n't like to use it very much ; his sarcasm towards treehorn and the malibu policeman shows that he knows when he 's getting a run around , and he does manage to unravel the kidnapping mystery by the end .
the coens certainly poke fun at the dude for his laziness , but they do n't just treat him as fodder for cheap shots either .
i think that , more than anything , is what makes the big lebowski
a standout comedy : it manages to approach characters like the dude and , to some extent , walter , with genuine affection while still acknowledging that they are pretty scatter - brained .
audience members may find themselves surprised at how much they like the un - dynamic duo by the end of the movie , given that they seemed like nothing more than the butts of an extended joke at first .
"
it 's good knowin ' he 's out there , the dude , takin ' it easy , " posits the narrator towards the end .
i dare say that truer words have seldom been spoken .
a standout comedy interesting enough to overcome the shaky plotting it more than makes up for it with the sheer fun genuine affection