The Big Lebowski is probably one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. It might just be the best movie I have ever seen. I have watched it well over 25 times with all kinds of different people and have received uniformly and overwhelmingly positive feedback. However, the last time I watched the movie with a bunch of people who had never seen it, and they deemed it one of the worst movies they had ever seen. I was at a bit of a loss when I heard this, because The Big Lebowski is very near and dear to my heart, but also because I really wasn't sure what to say. I had never had to justify my love of the movie because every other time I had seen it with anybody its brilliance had been self evident. Being asked to justify what made the movie so brilliant was like being asked to ask what makes the color red reddish or what makes 1+1=2. I have a million answers for why the movie is so brilliant, but unsurprisingly those million answers all came out at once in a confused babble.

The question for this discussion is twofold and simple.

Is The Big Lebowski a great film?
Then, regardless of the answer, justify it in a concise and compelling way.

The Big Lebowski is considered a great film by many, yet I cannot fathom why. I like the film, but I believe that someone has to be under 25 to believe that it's an honest-to-God great film. Is it funny? Hell, yes. But I don't think it's as funny as Monty Python movies. I also think it's pretty weak compared to other Coen Bros. movies, but I certainly understand the love for the Dude, Walter and all the other memorable characters. However, once again, I have to ask, do you even understand the title? The Big Lebowski is a post-modern, stoner film noir update of Bogie's/Hawks' The Big Sleep, but The Big Sleep is far superior.

So, those are my thoughts, but don't worry. Every 25-year-old or younger is gonna come now and tell you The Big Lebowski is awesome. Well, I think it's half-awesome, but that's only half a movie.

P.S. Don't worry what those other people or I say about what you love. Just love it and be thankful that you can. I just have other loves.

Welcome to the site!!

I think The Big Lebowski is a very good movie. I'm not so sure about "great". I think it would be a lot better if the ending was more pronounced. Everytime I watch it I'm always surprised by how abrubtly and quietly it ends. The first half of it is no doubt great, but it suffers a little in the second.

It certainly has some of the all time best quotes. Like mark said - it's hard not to enjoy The Dude and Walter. Jesus Quintana is of course a classic minor character too.

It's certainly not a flawless movie. The plot is a bit convoluted, there's too many characters for all of them to develop, and sometimes it seems the Coen Brothers were being weird for the sake of being weird. I don't think many people really like it after the first time they see it. Perhaps your friends would like it better upon subsequent viewings?

Curiously, I have seen it only the once. Not because I didn't enjoy it, but some films don't receive second viewings for many years, for all kinds of reasons.

Largely a very fine film; it's humour is a little under-developed, but then humour has never been a strong point of the Coens. They have their funny moments, and manage, in say, Raising Arizona, to maintain a delicious atmosphere of silliness throughout; but laugh out loud, cracking up belly laughs, I have rarely encountered.

Inconsistent, my final verdict. The Dude is actually not an endearing character to me. Thin development, and Bridges, who I adore, just never finds anything worthwhile to do with this cliche.

So now I have to go out and watch it again, ha ha...

quote:

Originally posted by Ishmaels coffin:
The Dude is actually not an endearing character to me.

Really? I think the Dude makes the film. Bridges nails the aging stoner part.

I don't know if The Big Lebowski is a great film, but The Dude and Walter are great characters. I love the film, but the reason I love it is because of the characters. From "the deadbeat" Lebowski to Maude with her non-specific accent to the nihilists, all of them make it a fun movie for me.

I would have to be the one to admit that I feel The Big Lebowski is a great film. Although I fit under mark's unjust stereotype of being an under-25 person that thinks it's great, I do feel that the film is a great achievement. It has been said that The Dude and Walter's roles were specifically written for John Goodman and Jeff Bridges; they truly nailed their roles. All the actors chosen for their specific roles are perfectly cast, the story is fun and smart, the acting is great and the writing is superb. My favorite actors are Donny and Brandt but that is slightly because I am a huge Steve Buscemi and Philip Seymour Hoffman fan. It has also been said that the reason why Walter keeps telling Donny to "shut the f**k up" is an inside joke to Buscemi's role in Fargo and how his character never shuts up.

I would still say that Fargo is my favorite Coen film by far, but I do think The Big Lebowski is a great film.

The Coens have made some terrific films, so no, it's definitely not their best. I'd probably give that honor to Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, or the aforementioned Fargo.

The Big Lebowski has some classic lines though.

"She's not my special lady, she's my fucking lady friend. I'm just helping her conceive."

"That rug really tied the room together."

"Everytime a rug is micturated upon in this fair city, I must be held responsible?"

I think you meant, "I just want to understand this, sir. Every time a rug is micturated upon in this fair city, I have to compensate the owner?"

"F**king dipsh*t with a nine-toed woman."

Yeah, I screwed that up a bit. I love the Coens' use of the word "micturate" though. That's a great word. For about a year after that movie came out, my friends and I would say, "I have to go micturate ," when we were at a bar and were heading to the bathroom.

We also knew a guy named Karl, who I started calling Karl Hungus, after Peter Stormare's character from "Logjammin'".

I personally like:

The Dude: How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Karl Hungus?

Or:

The Dude: Fuck sympathy! I don't need your fuckin' sympathy, man, I need my fucking johnson!
Donny: What do you need that for, Dude?

I understand why some people don't like it or think it's good, because it defies conventional good/bad. Of the other Coen films it reminds me most of Raising Arizona - series of bizarre vignettes loosely connected, except Lebowski is even more "pointless" so to say. I watched it with a friend who laughed his ass off the whole time, only to get to the end and say he didn't like it because it "wasn't really about anything." But that's what I like, the ride is so fun. If there's a pinnacle of movies with this as their agenda, I'd have to think Lebowski is it. Of what I've seen of the Coens, I'll put this just a notch below Fargo.

I guess I should weigh in on this little discussion. "The Big Lebowski" is one of the funniest comedies I've EVER seen ! I don't know if I fall into Mark F's catagory, I was 20 when I first saw it, & now at 29, I still enjoy it as much as I did then. Friends & I continually quote "8 year olds, Dude." & I have a great time calling people "pederasts". There was even a night I was talking with my best bud on the phone & we got started on it & just had to pop it in. To make the situation even nerdier we put our phones on speaker & watched it simultaneously! *SIGH* Good times.

We also used it to gauge if our girlfriends had a sense of humor. If they didn't like it, they were as dull as dishwater & we had to move on.

Well, I'm not one to judge the "greatness" of much of anything, but from my perspective, The Big Lebowski was outstanding... definitely one of my favorite comedies. I think mark f made a good point about it's appeal to the college age student through their mid 20s, but I also think it has a lasting appeal well beyond the sophomoric humor of most of the other comedies I watched on repeat in college, so I think it is one that will age with me(as it did Monkey_Boy). There's a subtle intelligence to it and Bridges, Goodman, and Buscemi all give pretty memorable performances.


Brandt: Oh, those are Mister Lebowski's children.
The Dude: Different mothers.
Brandt: No...
The Dude: So racially, he's pretty cool?

There's no big payoff in the Big Lebowski. Nothing that ties the movie together like the rug tied the Dude's apartment. It's the sort of movie where I'm smiling all the way through, just great, great fun, but overall it's nothing substantial. I love it. I own it. It is not a complete movie though. Great characters, great lines, interesting concept and a few too many wtf moments.

Fargo on the other hand is flawless. Every single scene (and line) is necessary to the story. There's absolutely no filler. It all matters.

I think Millers Crossing is also very good, but I haven't watched it in a few years. I'm gonna dig it out this weekend.

Coen's are amazing. Hopefully they come back bigger and better than ever with their next movie. Ladykillers was a decent movie, but it seemed like someone else's homage to the Coen's, not an actual Coen film.

"I don't like your jerk-off name, I don't like your jerk-off face and I don't like you...Jerk-OFF!"

I also love where he's listening to the Eagles, and it appears that he likes it and then proceeds to throw the tape out the window.

quote:

Originally posted by Il Mago:
Fargo on the other hand is flawless. Every single scene (and line) is necessary to the story. There's absolutely no filler. It all matters.

Not quite. What was the point of Marge meeting Mike at the bar? That scene was just plain strange. Funny & very uncomfortable, but it didn't add a thing to the story. I look at "The Big Lebowski" as an episode of 'Seinfeld', it's just a bunch of stuff that happens to a guy who happens to have the same last name as a much richer individual. It did tie everything up in a nice little bow. We found out what the big Lebowski was really trying to do, we know where the toe came from, we know where Bunny had really "disappeared" to. Did anything change in the Dude's life because of these events? No. And I think that was the point, "The Dude abides."

quote:

Originally posted by Monkey_Boy:

quote:

Originally posted by Il Mago:
Fargo on the other hand is flawless. Every single scene (and line) is necessary to the story. There's absolutely no filler. It all matters.

Not quite. What was the point of Marge meeting Mike at the bar? That scene was just plain strange. Funny & very uncomfortable, but it didn't add a thing to the story.

Not so fast, Monkey_Boy. I used to think the same thing. After Marge meets Mike at the bar, she's telling one of her friends about the experience. It turned out Mike was never married and that the girl he claimed to be married to never died, and also never got sick. It turns out Mike was just harassing her. Mike Yanagita was lying to Marge, but came across sincere, if a little bit odd. Marge starts to think "Jerry Lundegaard was being a bit odd/akward too, maybe he's also lying" and she then decides to go back and question Jerry again...

It's not super clear, but that's my reasoning behind the hilarious scene at the Raddison.

Mike:"I always liked you Margie"
Marge:"I always liked you too, Mi....."
Mike {Blurting out}"You were such a special lady!"