The Big Lebowski

The Coen brothers’ “The Big Lebowski” is a friendly, awkward comedy about a human car accident, and needs a forewarning like the one Mark Twain gave to “Huckleberry Finn:” “Persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.” It’s about a man named Jeff Lebowski, who calls himself the Dude, and is said by the narrator to be “the laziest man in Los Angeles County.” He only likes to go bowling, but is confused for a millionaire named the Big Lebowski, with dreadful consequences.

This is the first movie by Joel and Ethan Coen since “Fargo.” Few movies could equal that one, but not this film – but it’s strangely engaging, like its protagonist. The Dude is played by Jeff Bridges with a goatee, a potbelly and a pair of Bermuda shorts so huge they have been borrowed from his best friend and bowling buddy, Walter Sobchak, played by John Goodman. Their other teammate is Donny, played by Steve Buscemi, who may not be smart, but it’s hard to be sure since he never is allowed to finish what he says.

Everyone knows someone like the Dude, and it has been said the Coen brothers do. Roger Ebert noted in his review, “They based the character on a movie producer and distributor named Jeff Dowd, a familiar figure at film festivals, who is tall, large, shaggy and aboil with enthusiasm. Dowd is much more successful than Lebowski (he has played an important role in the Coens' careers as indie filmmakers), but no less a creature of the moment.” Both dudes dpend on inspiration and improvisation more than organization.

Ebert said, “In spirit, "The Big Lebowski'' resembles the Coens' "Raising Arizona,'' with its large cast of peculiar characters and its strangely wonderful dialogue.” Here, in a film set at the time of the Gulf War, are characters that speak in a way of past times: Vietnam (Walter), the flower power years (the Dude) and “Twilight Zone” (Donny). Their very belief of reality may be looked at by the small ways they have seen it. One of the good things about “Fargo” was the way the Coens listened carefully to how their characters talked. Also, notice here when the In & Out Burger shop is said to be a meeting, the Dude gives the address: That’s the type of exact information he would have.

As the film starts, the Dude is visited by two guards for an adult king, played by Ben Gazzara, who is owed a lot of money by the Big Lebowski’s wife. Obviously, the thugs have the wrong Lebowski, but before they figure that out, one already has urinated on the Dude’s rug, giving deep hate: “That rug really tied the room together,” the Dude mourns. Walter, the Vietnam veteran, leads a cause for revenge. Quoting exactly what President Bush says on TV, he declares that “this aggression will not stand” and demands the Dude to “draw a line in the sand.” The Dude visits the other Lebowski, played by David Huddleston, leaves with one of his rugs, and soon finds himself enrolled in the millionaire’s plans. The rich Lebowski, in a wheelchair and looking into a fireplace like, how Ebert said, “Maj. Amberson in "The Magnificent Ambersons,''” tells the Dude that his wife, Bunny, played by the hot Tara Reid, has been kidnapped. He wants the Dude to deliver the ransom money. This plan is conflicting by Maude, played by Julianne Moore, the Big Lebowski’s daughter from an earlier marriage. Moore, who played an adult actress in “Boogie Nights,” here, plays an all around different kind of suggestive artist. She covers her body with paint and throws herself through the air in a leather harness. A major role is played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, as Brandt, the obedient assistant to the Big Lebowski.

Los Angeles in this film is filled with oddball characters. One of the funniest is a Latino bowler named Jesus, played by John Turturro, who is seen going door to door in his neighborhood on a kind of mission you read about, but never picture anyone really doing. Ebert said, “The Dude tends to have colorful hallucinations when he's socked in the jaw or pounded on the head, which happens often, and one of them involves a musical comedy sequence inspired by Busby Berkeley. (It includes the first point-of-view shot in history from inside a bowling ball.)” Some may complain “The Big Lebowski” goes off in every direction and never ends up anywhere. That isn’t the film’s flaw, but its style. Ebert said, “The Dude, who smokes a lot of pot and guzzles White Russians made with half-and-half, starts every day filled with resolve, but his plans gradually dissolve into a haze of missed opportunities and missed intentions.” Most people lead lives with a third act. The Dude lives days without evenings. The spirit is given right at the start, when the narrator, played by Sam Elliott, starts out well enough, but eventually confesses he lost what he was thinking.

If you haven’t seen this movie, go ahead and see it because you will love it. The Coen brothers’ must have drawn inspiration from Much Ado About Nothing, seeing how this film might have ended that way, but I wouldn’t know, I’m just guessing. Definitely another one of my favorites, though I was told I have to see it twice to understand everything. I think I got it fine when I first saw it. Don’t miss your chance to see this movie.

Look out next week for more excitement in “The Coen Brothers Month.”