THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1998 Ted Prigge
Director: Joel Coen Writers: Joel and Ethan Coen Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, David Huddleston, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tara Reid, Flea, John Turturro, David Thewlis, Ben Gazzara, Leon Russom, Jon Polito, Sam Elliott
The first thing a fan of the Coen Brothers' previous effort, "Fargo," must do is completely obliterate any recollection of that film and brace one's self for a film that is arguably the most wacky film they've ever made. With a bigger budget, more refined sets, and a wide release on its opening release date, this film could easily be too awesome for its own good. The Brothers Coen could get too ambiguous and too wild with money and make a total mess of a film, much like Danny Boyle's "A Life Less Ordinary," his film following the brilliant "Trainspotting."
"The Big Lebowski" is a mess, but my god, what a wonderful mess of a film. The film is as disjointed, overly-exaggerated, incredibly weird, and as disconnected from reality as its protagonist, L.A.'s most lazy and self-centered human being. This wonderful person is named Jeff Lebowski (a long-haired, scuzzy Jeff Bridges), otherwise and preferably referred to as "The Dude." We don't learn much about this man, but he lives in a big L.A. house, goes bowling every couple of hours, drinks White Russians as much as he can, smokes pot regularly, and is unemployed. Only in L.A.
One night, the Dude comes home to find a pair of hoodlums who attack him, asking for some money that he has no idea he stole from them. To be tough, one of the men piss on his favorite rug before realizing that they got the wrong Lebowski. See, there's another Lebowski in town who's rich, referred to as "The Big Lebowski" (Charles Durning's dead ringer, David Huddleston, who was Grandpa Arnold on "The Wonder Years"), and his young nymphomaniac gold digger wife, Bunny (Tara Reid), apparently owes money all over town, and that's why the men came to beat up Lebowski.
The Dude's visit to the Big Lewbowski's mansion to get paid for the pissed-on rug is what becomes the catalyst for the rest of the story, which really takes off once the Big Lebowski receives a ransom note from some unknown assailants who claim to have kidnapped the now-missing Bunny. Since the Dude met the people (in the first scene) who the Big Lebowski believes kidnapped his wife, he asks him to be the courrier for the million dollars he needs delivered to them so he identify them for him. From this point on, the plot goes completely wacky, and to reveal what happens further would minimize most of the fun, which is so weird and wacky that it's unbelievable.
What the Coen's do best is crete a world disconnected completely from reality. No one in their world is supposed to be an exact duplicate of a real person; they're all distinct eccentric characters who live completely out of reality. "The Big Lebowski"'s best feature is the wide assortment of characters, which is probably the best set they've ever had for a movie. Every character is different from everyone else, and each of them is fully allowed to be their own person. Even cameo characters are brilliantly realized.
The most fascinating character is that of the Dude's one bowling partner, Walter (John Goodman), who was apparently shell shocked in Vietnam (as he constantly reminds everyone around him), and handles his bowling league like it was a religion. He gets so into trying to help the Dude in his giant dilemna that he ends up making things worse, yet never becomes an annoying character. Of the four characters Goodman's played in the four films he's been in this year alone thus far (can you believe it?), this is probably his most electric and best performance.
Other characters include: the Big Lebowski's bitter freaky artist daughter, Maude (Julianne Moore), who tries to help the Dude in several ways; Donny (Steve Buscemi), the more reserved bowling league partner who always seems to be out of touch with what's going on; Brandt (Philip Seymour Hoffman, the boom mike guy with a crush on Dirk from "Boogie Nights"), the Big Lebowski's hallowed assistant; a wealthy porn producer (Ben Gazzara); and a group of Sweedish (or German) "nihilists," one of them played by Flea, and another played by "Fargo"'s Peter Stormare (Gaer Grimsrud), who shows up in other places throughout to high comic effect. In smaller cameos are a hispanic bowling competitor of the Dude's named Jesus (John Turturro), who makes bizarre threats each time we see him; and an arty friend of Maud's played by a John Waters-looking David Thewlis. Oh. And Sam Elliott stars as the on-again/off-again narrator, who mocks the process by sometimes forgetting what he's going to say, and popping up in the story from time to time. As you can see, this is one hell of a character line-up.
The plot itself is all over the place, filled with gaping holes, and unfolded in a leisurely, weird pace. The film, though, never suffers by it, and in fact, is better off being this way. It's a film that may be weird a lot of the time, and sometimes just plain incoherent, but for those who can appreciate it, it's a wild, wild ride. Everything in the film is exaggerated, and played for the highest comic effect, so much that after about an hour it almost hurt to laugh. This is easily the funniest film of the year thus far, which, when you think of it, is not great feat.
The acting from everyone is brilliant, as everyone is given a character they can play around with. John Goodman is easily the best supporting character, while everyone else does marvelous work with their respective characters, each giving them individual quirks to make them more fascinating. Julianne Moore gives her character a faux-Euro Trash accent, while Philip Seymour Hoffman seems to have a smile surgically frozen on his face. John Turturro oozes with camp, while Steve Buscemi brilliantly maneurvures through a role where he has to be told to shut the fuck up every time he speaks.
But the actor who really gives the film some depth is Jeff Bridges, who is absolutely brilliant as the Dude. His character is not at all the most fascinating character, but he's the one who sets the tone for everything to come. Bridges is a very talented actor, and here, he's at his comic best, being completely aware of his slothness, and still not caring about it. He makes the Dude the film's most likable character, and is completely believable every step of the way.
So what's this film about? To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure. It could be a criticism of America's slothness, or a paen to it, as the Dude's the film's most moral and sympathetic character in a film filled with crazy people who do way too much. Or maybe it's a film about trying to find a happy medium between the two. Whatever it's about, the thing about this film is to just sit back and enjoy the ride. The only problem is not the lack of any real substance, but the fact that it does go on too long. By the end, I was just waiting for it to end, even though once I got there, I was kinda disappointed. But the completely wacky and lazy storytelling, which jumps all over the place at will, is done so to show the world of the Dude the best.
"The Big Lebowski" is not one of the Coens' best film. But even the Coen's worst is still one hell of a film, and this is the weakest Coen film since "The Hudsucker Proxy," and therefore still pretty amazing. Anyone expecting a "Fargo" is at the wrong film. But if one lets themselves go, "The Big Lebowski" is outrageously fun entertainment, even if it doesn't seem to have a purpose. Oh well. That's what you get for going to see a comedy.
MY RATING (out of 4): ***1/2
Homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/8335/
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