5 out of 5 stars.
The first time I watched The Big Lebowski, I was at a lake cabin sleepover with a couple of friends in high school. It was one of those late-night situations where everyone’s a little delirious from too much uh…. Pop…. and no sleep, and someone suggests watching this weird movie they rented that they heard was “hilarious.”
I didn’t quite get it at the time—like, I understood parts of it, but the plot? That went right over my head. Yet, I remember us laughing our asses off at all the over-the-top scenes. John Goodman screaming about “basic freedoms” or Jeff Bridges explaining to the rich Jeff that he goes by the Dude—it was just so ridiculous that we couldn’t stop laughing.
Fast forward a couple of years, and I decided to give The Big Lebowski another try. And this time? Oh man, it hit different. It went from “weird movie I didn’t understand” to absolute favorite movie. How could I not love it? It’s brilliant in the way that it’s not trying to be brilliant. It’s just The Dude, going through life with this weird mix of apathy and Zen that you kind of wish you could pull off. He’s one of my spirit animals, no doubt, right up there with my other spirit animals, Larry David playing Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Jeff Bridges is The Dude. His performance is so effortless that it’s hard to believe he’s not actually walking around in a bathrobe in real life, sipping White Russians and muttering “That’s just, like, your opinion, man” to everyone he meets. And John Goodman as Walter? Holy shit, talk about over-the-top. He’s a volcano of intensity, but somehow it works perfectly for this larger-than-life character. Goodman and Bridges are so good that it’s easy to forget they’re just playing roles, until you see them in something else and you’re like, “Wait, these guys can act in anything?!”
And then there’s Julianne Moore. What a weirdo in this movie. Not to mention her friend with the cleft asshole. But, like, she’s weird in the best possible way. She’s this eccentric, avant-garde artist who flies into the movie, says some crazy stuff, and somehow manages to be both absolutely bizarre and stunningly beautiful at the same time. You can’t take your eyes off her, even when you’re not sure what she’s doing.
The whole cast of characters in The Big Lebowski is just incredible. Philip Seymour Hoffman, as always, delivers flawlessly—Brandt is this perfect mix of friendly and smug, which makes him hilariously confusing to watch. And Donny? It was heartbreaking to see him go, especially with Steve Buscemi playing him so perfectly. I’m glad Buscemi eventually got his well-deserved lead role in Boardwalk Empire, one of the all-time greats. David Huddleston, who I didn’t really know before this, absolutely nailed it as the larger-than-life Lebowski. His over-the-top delivery made every line unforgettable. Then there’s The Stranger, our unlikely narrator—at first, he seems kind of out of place, but somehow he fits perfectly into this bizarre world. Plus, he delivers some of the most memorable lines that still pop into my head all the time. Growing up, movies with great one-liners to reminisce about with your friends were gold, and The Big Lebowski is packed with them. I had this one friend, who was there that night the first time I watched this, who seemed to have a real talent memorizing a lot of lines from movies and lyrics to songs. You’d think he would have become an actor for his gift of line memoration, but he became a cop. I bet he reads Miranda rights really well.
Looking back, I’m glad I didn’t fully get the movie in high school, because rewatching it later opened up a whole new appreciation. The randomness, the absurdity, the characters—The Big Lebowski has this vibe that’s hard to pin down but impossible not to love once you get into it. It’s the kind of movie that gets better with every watch, where you notice something new every time and the jokes never get old.
Now, it’s not just a movie I watch—it’s a mood, a vibe, and a reminder that sometimes you’ve just gotta “take it easy, man.”
By the way, this was my introduction to the Coen Bros, I’ve seen every one of their films and only didn’t like a couple. Fargo, Raising Arizona, A Serious Man, Burn After Reading, O Brother Where Art Thou, No Country For Old Men, all five out of five star movies for me.
Favorite line:
You know, a lotta ins, a lotta outs, lotta what-have-yous.”
