An exceptional, surreal mystery woven around the one true pasttime: bowling. The Coen brothers finally succeeded where ABC and ESPN 2 have failed, they've made bowling truly look good. Of course, the bowling alone is not the strong point of this movie; the script, performances, and direction make this a masterpiece.
The story at first seems a bit simple, if not silly. Many claim the movie has no plot. I whole heartedly disagree, there's a deep plot I didn't notice for the first few viewings (and I've seen this movie nearly 40 times). The Dude (Jeff Bridges) is an everyman of the early 90's. Content to live his life simply, to "Bowl, drive around. The occasional acid flashback." He's swept up in a very messy kidnapping, seemingly gone awry. He's left to fumble his way through with a few ecclectic characters: Walter Sobchak (John Goodman in an incredible performance) a semi stable vietnam vet and Donnie a slow witted bowling ace (another Coen favorite son, Steve Buscemi). They are up against the Big Lebowski (the guy who played Santa Clause in Santa Clause the movie) and some nihilists (including flea); trying to chase down a soiled rug and a million dollars of ransome money.
The script itself if some of the finest comedy writing I've ever seen. Each scene takes you further into the mystery of how and where the money has gone. Some of the best dialogue in the movie include Walter's many rants about Vietnam, "Those rich <expletive>! This whole <expletive> thing... I did not watch my buddies die face down in the muck so that this <expletive> strumpet--" and the Dude's continual inability to string together a coherant thought, "Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man." The further the movie goes, you're given privvy to knowlege of who's behind what actions, and why the dude was set up to take such an incredible fall.
Speaking of the Dude, I've never seen Jeff Bridges give such an incredible performance. The Coen brothers brought out some of the finest moments with their actors. One scene that sticks in my mind takes place with the dude and the daughter of the "big Lebowski", Maude. She shows him pieces of a porn film that Bunny (the kidnappee) where a cable repairman came to visit two nubile young women, and Maude says "You can imagine where it goes from here". And Jeff Bridges manages the finest throw away line I've ever heard, he simply replies "He fixes the cable." Other fine performances include John Goodman as Walter. Walter's mood will swing so violently that one minute he's reminding people to refer to the "chinaman" as Asian American to pulling a gun on an opposing bowler who's toe may or may not have slipped over the line.
There are really too many great things about this movie for such a short piece. Here are some of my other favorite parts of this movie:
1. The dream sequences. They are exceptionally well done and flow seemlessly through the movie.
2. The bowling sequences. Combined with wonderful music, these short interludes are poetry in motion.
3. Small characters. Some of the most memorable characters, like Jesus (another bowler, played by John Turturo) have no more than a dozen lines.
Off of my soap box. See this movie. My review may not make much sense, but I promise, the movie is worth seeing, and hopefully, you'll see how wonderful it really is.
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