day 59 - The Big Lebowski

OK film fans, its Monday night and after successfully navigating the most dangerous day of the week, I thought I'd kick back with some old friends, have a beer and chill. Joel and Ethan, The Coen Brothers, are well known for their astounding collection of films that, for the most part, the duo write, produce, direct and edit. While the mainstream kudos are heaped upon their Oscar nominated films, like No Country for Old Men, Fargo and O Brother, Where Art Thou, my favorites have always been their smaller, more quirky comedies. Films like Raising Arizona, Burn After Reading and tonight's film.

The Big Lebowski is a film less about plot than it is a testament to a lifestyle choice. On the surface this is a simple tale. Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges in a role he was born to play), the embodiment of the Southern California slacker spirit and the liberal ethos, begins the film as a victim of mistaken identity. The Dude is visited by two enforcers for a porn king who is owed serious money by another Lebowski's (aka the Big Lebowski) wife, Bunny (Tara Reid a year before American Pie and two years before her career was over). The enforcers rough up The Dude and piss on his rug to send a message. Only afterward do they realizing that The Dude does not live like a man who is supposed to be a millionaire. The Dude, spurred on by his overly aggressive friend Walter Sobachak (a surprisingly effective John Goodman), a Viet Nam vet and the embodiment of the conservative ethos, visits the Big Lebowski to gain compensation. After he's rejected he leaves with a replacement rug on the sly. Later, when the Big Lebowski's wife is kidnapped, The Dude is offered $20k to deliver the ransom. He also loses the rug to its rightful owner, Maude Lebowski (Julianne Moore), the Big Lebowski's daughter from his first wife. Thanks to mistake filled schemes and deceptions soon everyone is looking for a piece of The Dude, who really just wanted to bowl and drink White Russians.

Seems like a simple, fun time delivered by modern masters of dialogue and direction. To be sure, it is exactly that, a goofy fun time about bowling, mistaken identity and nihilists. When you watch The Big Lebowski you can take from it exactly what you see, goofball slapstick from the Coen Brothers. And that's the beauty of the film, they are so successful at creating a glossy exterior they can subtly deliver a bold subtext on American life that's hidden in a surprisingly labyrinthine plot.

When it was first released The Big Lebowski was not a big hit, garnering average reviews and a barely breaking even ($17 mil on an est. $15 mil budget). It has gone on to become a cult classic, complete with its own festival and religion. It has also been dissected and analyzed, revealing a film pitting The Dude's hippie "liberal" school of thought against Walter's more right wing neoconservative sensibilities. The real dynamic of the film, the driving force of the narrative, is Walter's overbearingly aggressive solutions to problems, that inevitably go awry, and The Dude's inability to rein him in.

But beyond all that is a Coen Brothers film filled with beautiful sequences, wild characters, classic movie references and amazing soundtrack choices. It's also a film that encourages multiple viewings and rewards those willing to let The Dude abide. But hey, that's your choice and The Dude will abide regardless. Long live The Dude inside every one of us.