The Big Lebowski

The plot of this Raymond Chandler-esque comedy crime caper from the Coen Brothers (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen) pivots around a case of mistaken identity complicated by extortion, double-crosses, deception, embezzlement, sex, pot, and gallons of White Russians (made with fresh cream, please). In 1991, ...more

"Your revolution is over. The bums lost! Get a job, sir!" screams the real-life Mr. Lebowski as Jeff Bridges' "The Dude" sheepishly saunters out of the former's office. The Dude proceeds to tell Lebowski's assistant Brandt (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), "The old man said take any rug in the house," thus solving our hero's most pressing conundrum: he needs a new rug, and he gets one. The minutia of The Big Lebowski is why it's so brilliant; even the pettiest occurrences yield catastrophic ...more

Those who preferred the cut-and-dry, linear plotline of the Coen brothers' Fargo (1996) might be advised to stay away from the duo's gleefully absurd follow-up, The Big Lebowski. The film doesn't have much use for established storytelling techniques; it's more of a series of bizarre vignettes, which might be a problem if they weren't so funny. The title character, brilliantly played by Jeff Bridges, is a latter-day, stoner version of Philip Marlowe; it's one of the many homages the Coens make to ...more