Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Daniel Huddleston
Jeff ‘The Dude’ Lebowski (Bridges) is an unemployed slacker
who spends most of his time bowling and hanging out with his friends Walter
Sobchak (Goodman), a short-tempered man obsessed with the Vietnam War and Donny
(Steve Buscemi) a good-hearted but inane bowler. One evening, The Dude is
confronted in his home by two thugs (Philip Moon, Mark Pellegrino) believing
The Dude to be a wealthy businessman (Huddleston) also called Jeff Lebowski.
The incident causes the two Lebowskis to cross paths, only for The Dude and
Walter to wind up involved in resolving the kidnapping of the richer Lebowski’s
wife (Tara Reid).
A sprawling comic-mystery from the Coen brothers, The Big
Lebowski follows on the tradition paved by Miller’s Crossing (1990), Barton
Fink (1991) and Fargo (1996), even including most of the same cast (Jeff
Bridges would later play Rooster Cogburn in the Coen brothers’ 2010 remake of
True Grit). Each of the major characters have their own distinct personality
traits and are all enjoyable to watch, from Bridges beach bum philosophising as
The Dude to John Turturro’s performance as a Latino bowling rival who steals
the few scenes he’s in. The film is more experimental than, say, Fargo
(although not quite reaching the surreal heights of Barton Fink) with extensive
dream sequences and odd twists but with an engaging story (though not quite as engaging
as other Coen fare) and perhaps the funniest Coen brothers screenplay, this is
one of the essential films from the fraternal duo.
No comments:
Post a Comment