The Big Lebowski (My Favorite Movies)

The opening narration of The Big Lebowski is, in itself, as apt a description of the movie as you’ll find. The Stranger, a gravelly-voiced cowboy played by Sam Elliott, begins to describe the man who will eventually become the film’s protagonist: The Dude. It rambles on for a while, illustrating The Dude as “a man for his time and place.” The problem is that the narrator frequently finds himself distracted by his own story. Eventually he gives up, saying that he’s lost his train of thought. The narration then comes to an end.

If you have a problem with this opening, then you’re going to have a problem with The Big Lebowski. Here is a film that is both shapeless and unfocused… and gloriously so. The fact that it meanders all over the map and back is what gives the film its greatness. It’s a movie about people who don’t really care about anything, and they care even less about finishing anything. These are characters that can greet absolute chaos with a simple utterance: “F--- it. Let’s go bowling.”

It all begins with a case of mistaken identity. At the beginning of the film, The Dude (wonderfully played by Jeff Bridges) has his house broken into by a couple of thugs. They proceed to dunk his head in the toilet, and one of them pees on his rug. This displeases The Dude, as that rug really tied the room together, you see. Well, it turns out these thugs are looking for a man named Jeff Lebowski. This is The Dude’s legal name, but the Lebowski they’re looking for actually happens to be a millionaire with the same name. When The Dude goes to meet the other Lebowski the next day, things only grow stranger. What follows is a story of alleged kidnapping, nihilism, pornography and a million other things I don’t feel like going into here. Many characters in The Big Lebowski come and go at their leisure, often for no reason. This is the story of a man who doesn’t give a crap being forced into giving a crap about a million things at once. None of it makes sense to him, and it especially doesn’t make sense to the audience.

The Dude’s two sidekicks are Walter (John Goodman) and Donny (Steve Buscemi), who at first seem to have quite the antagonistic relationship. Whenever Donny tries to open his mouth, he’s greeted with a not-so-friendly “shut the f--- up.” Meanwhile, Walter’s experience in Vietnam has taught him to always be ready at the sight of something that even vaguely resembles an injustice. The most interesting aspect of Buscemi here is that his character is almost always dead silent—which is strange for an actor used to playing nonstop motor mouths. The Big Lebowski is not his best performance, but it might be the best proof that he’s a great actor. The fact that this is the same guy who plays Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire is baffling.

What makes The Big Lebowski so memorable is its combination of fascinating, hilarious characters and profane, always quotable dialogue. I don’t know if I’ve seen another movie so chock full of conversations that beg to be recited by fans. It’s one of the few movies I’ve seen that never, ever gets old. Just about every film can grow old if it is seen too many times. No matter the time, watching The Big Lebowski is never a bad decision. I have seen it four or five times myself in total, but I could easily see myself watching it twice in one day and never growing tired.

The film’s utterly confusing narrative is another factor that makes it so re-watchable. Watching a movie can stop being fun when there are no further surprises to be found. With The Big Lebowski, there’s always a little something to be discovered no matter how many times you see it. The first time, you’re drawn in by the world. With each subsequent viewing, you are able to break it all down until you can finally wrap your head around it. For a movie that has a reputation for being a “stoner comedy,” it’s surprisingly complex… and rather confusing.

I’m not going to pretend that there’s a grand lesson to be learned The Big Lebowski, but that’s kind of how it is with most Coen brothers films. As I said in my post on Fargo way back when, the Coens are masters of making movies that are about nothing and everything at the same time. The Big Lebowski is the most obvious example of that. The events in the film are aggressively ridiculous, and the film itself may very well be superfluous. Yet it all feels so utterly real.

The Coens have grown quite good at following up monster successes with films that are intentionally bewildering. The Big Lebowski came immediately after Fargo, a film that was met with universal admiration. When you create a movie as tight and brilliant as that, it’s understandable that expectations would be raised to impossible levels. How do they respond? With this strange, off-putting little number. I can understand how—at the time—people may have been confused by The Big Lebowski. Today, it is indisputably a masterpiece that stands right along with their best work.

This was not the last time the Coens would screw with moviegoers after success. In fact, they did this twice in the wake of No Country for Old Men, which was followed by Burn After Reading (which was actually successful financially) and A Serious Man. One can only wonder what awaits us after the financial goldmine that was True Grit.

This past weekend I was enlisted to cover the local Lebowski Fest for The Lantern, the student newspaper here at Ohio State University. (Read it here!) It was then I came to the conclusion that The Big Lebowski is the biggest cult movie of all time. (Though Rocky Horror—unseen by me—is probably right up there.) I can’t think of a comparable movie that could fill an entire central Ohio bowling alley with obsessed, costumed fans. When I talked with them, many said they had seen the movie over 100 times.

What attracts all these people to the film? There could be any number of reasons. Some may just find it mildly amusing. Others may connect with the characters on a deeper level. Nonetheless, it’s a movie that’s able to inspire an incomparable amount of passion in its fans. The Big Lebowski definitely seems to have tapped into a certain way of life. Despite the fact that The Dude is lazy and worthless, there’s something strangely appealing about him. While a lot of this can be attributed to Jeff Bridges’ performance, his constant nonchalance can become admirable. There will always be a Dude somewhere. In reality, we may despise them. But The Big Lebowski argues that we need them. Who else would be able to solve the mystery of Bunny Lebowski?