**** The Big Lebowski (1998)It's probably best not to read too much into The Big Lebowski. The biggest pleasure in this film (or at least for me, anyway) was watching the manic energy/chemistry/wackiness between the Dude (Jeff Bridges) and Walter (John Goodman) that left me wondering how they got through each take without cracking up every time. Never mind the craft (pitch perfect in terms of delivery and timing) and let me be honest for a minute - by the end of the movie, I was laughing my ass off. Alone. In the middle of the night.
I wish I had more thoughtful things to write about the movie but because it's such an acid trip of a film (and partly because my brain is so fried from watching it) I feel it's best, at least for now, to prevent myself from dissecting it so as to not egregiously offend anyone who belongs to the church of Lebowski. Is it a satirical statement about the not-so-perceptive warmonger/pacifist debates in post-Gulf War society? A subtle send-up of noir and Westerns in Ken Kesey-esque fashion? Maybe. Probably. I don't know and, to some degree, I don't care to know. I know The Big Lebowski was written by smart people (the Coens brothers, for Hay-Zeus' sake), acted in by smart people and, in it's own inane way, it's a very smart film. But I'm not going to be pretentious and say that I enjoyed it for all the smart reasons. I enjoyed the goofy parts dammit, especially the part with a Folger's can taking the place of a cremation urn (hence the laughing alone in the middle of the night).
I'm not even going to bother writing a synopsis of the labyrinthine plot and just say that it involves mistaken identity, kidnapping, nihilists, postmodern pseudo-artists, seedy pornographers and bowling. Lots and lots of bowling. If you don't like The Big Lebowski, it's because it's either too above or beneath you, but it definitely can't be anywhere in between.
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