The Big Lebowski (R)
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi
Release Date: March 6, 1998
Runtime: 1 hr. 57 mins.
Genre: Comedy, Detective
The Coen brothers and their agreeable cast make more fun than sense with this scattered farce about a pothead bowler who is mistaken for a deadbeat philanthropist and drawn into a cluster of kidnapers, nihilists, porn mobsters and Busby Berkeley beauties.
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If I were to rank The Big Lebowski, I'd place it in the upper-middle tier of the Coen Brothers' catalog. It remains one of their most oft-quoted works and arguably their biggest cult classic. A showcase of offbeat humor-some of it genuinely laugh-out-loud funny-it's a warped, irresistibly entertaining caper comedy that delivers a couple of hours of guilt-free fun, crafted as only the Coens can do.
The Big Lebowski is a collage of brilliant moments and inspired vignettes, even if its overarching narrative is threadbare. On the profanity front, it could give Tarantino a run for his money. At one point, Sam Elliott's laconic Stranger even asks, with bemused exasperation, "Do you have to use so many cuss words?" According to IMDb, the f-bomb (or some variation) is dropped 292 times-nearly twice as often as the film's second-most-used word, "man" (147 times). Whether this barrage of vulgarity reflects Tarantino's influence is uncertain, just as the oddball fantasy sequences seem to flirt with the surreal territory of David Lynch.
Viewed from a mid-2020s perspective, one thing that stands out more clearly than it did upon release is Ethan Coen's particular imprint on the film. In terms of nudity and crudity, The Big Lebowski feels distinct from the other Coen brothers' collaborations, yet it bears clear affinities with Ethan's solo projects, Drive-Away Dolls and Honey Don't. Both of those films were co-created with his wife, Tricia Cooke-who, notably, served as an editor on The Big Lebowski.
The Coens introduce us to The Dude (Jeff Bridges), a down-and-out drifter still mentally anchored in the '60s. He spends his days slumped in his apartment, smoking joints and doing little else-essentially a middle-aged Jeff Spicoli. Occasionally, he shuffles to the bowling alley for league games with his two closest companions: Walter (John Goodman), a Polish Catholic Jew still scarred by Vietnam, and Donny (Steve Buscemi), a meek simpleton. For the most part, though, The Dude is content to drift at home, earning his reputation as "the laziest man in Los Angeles County." That is, until a gang of bungling crooks mistakes him for The Big Lebowski (David Huddleston), one of the city's wealthiest men.
Bunny Lebowski (Tara Reid), the tycoon's trophy wife, owes a hefty debt to porn kingpin Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara). Treehorn's thugs confuse The Dude-whose real surname also happens to be Lebowski-for their target, and it takes them an embarrassingly long time to realize the mix-up (they're not exactly Rhodes scholars). Furious after they ruin his rug, The Dude confronts The Big Lebowski in search of restitution. But the encounter sets off a chain of chaos. Soon, he's hired to act as bagman in the ransom exchange for Bunny's supposed kidnapping. Walter, ever the schemer, insists The Dude should keep the money. Maude Lebowski (Julianne Moore), The Big Lebowski's daughter, demands it be returned to the family. Meanwhile, The Dude's car-where the ransom is stashed-gets stolen. To top it off, it becomes increasingly unclear whether Bunny is actually in any danger at all.
Much of the humor stems from The Dude's sheer ineptitude. If you were ranking candidates to handle a kidnapping ransom drop, he wouldn't just be a poor choice-he'd be the worst possible choice. He's a complete loser, and his friends do little to elevate him. Walter is a gun-obsessed hothead who threatens to shoot a fellow bowler over a scoring dispute, while Donny is so dim he might as well be a vacuum with a pulse. Together, the trio are exactly the kind of misfits who feel right at home in a Coen Brothers film-but hopelessly out of place anywhere else (including the real world). Among the film's many eccentrics, none stands out more than John Turturro's hilariously flamboyant turn as Jesus, a rival bowler.
The Coens leave no sacred cows untipped. In their surreal playground of oddities, they use the bowling alley to parody Busby Berkeley musicals in the dreamlike "Gutterballs" sequence. It features Julianne Moore in a Viking-inspired costume, Saddam Hussein as a shoe clerk (a nod to the film's Gulf War backdrop), and Jeff Bridges peering out helplessly from inside a giant bowling ball. Elsewhere, the film lampoons the conventions of narration. Sam Elliott's gravelly-voiced Stranger opens with a self-consciously rambling monologue, only to lose his train of thought midway and casually admit it to the audience.
Visually and temperamentally, Jeff Bridges is pitch-perfect as the perpetually stoned Dude, with long hair, beard, shades, and a dazed expression. (He has even admitted drawing on personal experiences to shape the role.) Though this was his only collaboration with the Coens, it remains one of his signature performances. Regular Coen players John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, and John Turturro all make the most of their screen time, while Julianne Moore adds eccentric flair as Maude, indulging in some avant-garde nude painting. David Huddleston, meanwhile, plays the title character like a wheelchair-bound Mr. Potter from It's a Wonderful Life, exuding bluster and bitterness in equal measure.
When I wrote my contemporaneous review of The Big Lebowski around the time of its release, I said the following: "In a word, The Big Lebowski is a mess. But what a glorious, wonderfully-entertaining mess it is." My opinion hasn't changed: this is a film best enjoyed for the ride rather than the destination. In the parlance of Tarantino and Richard Linklater, it's a "hangout" movie where the pleasure is not so much on the journey but the company one keeps along the way. The Dude abides-and as we watch his absurd misadventures play out, we're more than happy to abide with him.
© 2025 James Berardinelli
Synopsis
The Coen brothers and their agreeable cast make more fun than sense with this scattered farce about a pothead bowler who is mistaken for a deadbeat philanthropist and drawn into a cluster of kidnapers, nihilists, porn mobsters and Busby Berkeley beauties.