The Big Lebowski

UK Release Date. 24 April 1998
Certification. 18
Running Time. 1 hour 57 mins
Director. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen.
Cast. Jeff Bridges, Steve Buscemi, Sam Elliott, John Goodman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, David Huddleston, Julianne Moore, John Turturro.
Rating. 76%

Review.

“Sometimes there’s a man who, well, he’s the man for his time and place, he fits right in there… …and that’s The Dude, in Los Angeles.”

Any attempt to describe the plot of The Big Lebowski would surely prove to be an exercise in futility. When the Coen Brothers unveiled their much-anticipated follow-up to Fargo in April 1998, people were immediately confused by the intentionally convoluted plot.

It all starts when The Dude (Jeff Bridges) is mistaken for a reclusive, wealthy philanthropist, The Big Lebowski (David Huddleston). This implausible misunderstanding unwittingly sets off a disjointed, chaotic chain of events that involves kidnapping, modern art, pornography, nihilists, ten-pin bowling and ‘a rug that really tied the room together.’

The film was conceived as a contemporary pastiche of the film noir genre, loosely inspired by the detective novel structure popularised by the American writer Raymond Chandler (e.g. The Long Goodbye, Farewell, My Lovely and The Big Sleep). The film’s near-infinite quotability (which itself grows with time, given how much of the film’s humour is self-referential) and wholehearted support for the art of taking it easy have elevated The Big Lebowski into the kind of impossible-to-replicate cult classic that only comes around once in a generation.

Jeff Bridges’ portrayal of The Dude is a flawless blend of timing and material that you couldn’t reverse engineer if you tried. A more inexperienced or inconsequential actor would have played the character for laughs, but Bridges - in perhaps his definitive performance - creates a character whose endearing and abundant eccentricities only seem to promote an inner calm. A behemoth of a character who lackadaisically embodies the last dying gasps of 1960s counterculture as America entered a new century.

The other characters, from John Goodman’s volcanic veteran Walter Sobchak to his bowling nemesis, John Turturro’s spangly sex offender Jesus Quintana and Julianne Moore’s avant-garde artist Maude Lebowski have become equally immortalised.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the entire film is narrated by a basso profundo stranger (Sam Elliott) who introduces the audience to The Dude and follows his escapades with fraternal admiration. Sure, it's a device. But it really holds the film together.

Approaching 30 years on from its original release The Big Lebowski remains one of the most beloved entries in the Coen Brothers' filmography. As easy, light and insouciant as the tumbleweed that meanders incongruously up to the city in the opening sequence. Eminently rewatchable year after year.