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THE BIG LEBOWSKI Send This Review to a Friend
Offbeat films are providing the most rewards these days.
One standout is THE BIG LEBOWSKI, the latest outrageous vision from the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, who have previously afforded such distinctive creations as "Blood Simple,'' "Miller's Crossing,'' and "Fargo." This time they have concocted a contemporary riff on such convoluted film noir classics as "The Big Sleep." But the Coens -- with both writing the screenplay and Joel directing--stand the film noir genre on its head. Their language is comedy as well as the action that inevitably engulfs the hero.
Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, and Steve Buscemi play members of a bowling team caught up in a complex plot that provides almost non-stop hilarity. Inventive as usual, the Coen team concocts a series of adventures for this trio of misfits who stumble from one crisis to another. Bridges is in top form as The Dude, a laid back, sloppy and proudly shiftless victim of mistaken identity. What starts with goons urinating on his rug leads to a maze of trouble, made worse each step of the way by his ever-furious pal Walter (John Goodman), still filled with his war veteran's anger over Vietnam.
The Coens not only satirize life in Los Angeles but take aim at the larger picture by setting their film in 1991 during the Persian Gulf war. The current threat of another Gulf explosion adds timeliness, and Walter is forever on a moralizing kick, whether insisting that "a line has to be drawn in the sand" by the country or in behalf of The Dude. Goodman is an outsized riot.
"The Big Lebowski" has some wonderfully imaginative fantasy sequences, including a Busby Berkeley type musical dance number with a bowling pin motif, and is sparked by appealing supporting performances, especially that of Julianne Moore, comically alluring as a an ultra-modern artist with a liberated sexual agenda. John Turturro earns bellylaughs as a swishy Latino bowler named Jesus Quintana. Although the film is a bit long and runs out of power occasionally, it scores as a wild comic ride packed with laughs, original style, and memorably entertaining performances. A Gramercy Pictures Release.
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