The Big Lebowski is the funniest film the Coen Brothers ever produced, wrote and directed. It stars Jeff Bridges as “the Dude,” whose real name is Lebowski, which draws him into an underworld swirling around the kidnapping of the trophy wife of a millionaire named Lebowski. The convolutions of the story are structured like film noir set in 1991 (the Coens enjoy playing with details from recent history), but there are also visual references to Lolita and Busby Berkeley and a western spoof in the form of the Stranger (Sam Elliot), the bewhiskered old cowpoke whose occasional narration and appearances are as hilariously out of time as the Bogart who haunts Woody Allen in Play It Again, Sam.
Much of the comedy comes from whip-smart conversations involving the Dude, an unreconstructed '60s left-over who listens to CCR cassettes in his car, says “Man” and “Far out” a lot and hangs around the bowling alley with an unhinged Vietnam veteran (John Goodman) and their lovably doltish sidekick (Steve Buscemi). The subtext might have to do with the barriers of class, culture and generation, which the Dude pratfalls over as he tries to navigate beyond the bubble of pot smoke enclosing him. He's comically inept, but a better soul than many of the characters he encounters, including the Cheney-like millionaire Lebowski, who growls: “Every bum's life is his own responsibility no matter who he chooses to blame”; his art (make that “ahht”) snob daughter Maude (Julianne Moore channeling the voice of Katherine Hepburn); and a gang of violent German nihilists (“Ve believe in nothing”) from a Kraftwerk-like band.
The 1998 mega-spoof is being reissued in August on a “limited edition” Blu-ray in a hardcover along with a digital copy allowing it to be viewed anywhere, anytime on smart phones and tablets. But let's face it: watching a movie on a smart phone is a cut-rate experience. Make some popcorn, kick back and watch The Big Lebowski on as big a screen as you can find. It's worth two hours of concentration.
