‘That rug really tied the room together…’
The concept of a cult classic is an odd one. At what point does a film cease being a cult classic and start being simply a classic? Is it when a film has its own festival based around the characters? Is it when the internet is flooded with quotes and memes from that film? On the other hand, perhaps a cult classic is born when people start to feel like it belongs to them, no matter how many others feel the same way. If the latter is true, then The Big Lebowski is surely the greatest cult classic ever made…
When drifter and bowling obsessive Jeffrey ‘the Dude’ Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is mistaken for someone else with the same name as him, a chain of events is set in motion that will take in kidnapping, coitus and a particularly fierce marmet.
I could write all day about the Coen brothers’ classic The Big Lebowski, but for everyone’s sake I will try to keep this brief. The dialogue is stunning, it is nigh on impossible to write dialogue that seems improvised, and yet, that is what the Coens have achieved here. The acting is a joy to behold with both Jeff Bridges as the Dude (or his Dudeness, or El Duderino if you’re not into the whole brevity thing), and John Goodman as the unhinged Vietnam vet Walter Sobchak, both turning in career best performances. The rest of the cast are uniformly excellent too with Julianne Moore perfectly capturing the absurdity of the modern art scene, Steve Buscemi hilarious as Donny, the naive third stooge to the Dude and Walter, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman stealing every scene in which he appears as the big Lebowski’s hapless assistant Brandt. Hell, even Tara Reid contributes as the sultry MacGuffin Bunny Lebowski. A special word for David Huddleston in the titular role in a performance that is more than a match for anything Jeff Bridges delivers (THE BUMS ALWAYS LOSE).
I can’t remember if I loved The Big Lebowski immediately or if it was something that developed over time, what I do know is that I must have seen this movie fifty times, and each time I notice something that I hadn’t spotted before. With The Big Lebowski, the Coen brothers created something that was more than a movie. It’s a way of life. A mission statement. And more than anything, it’s a masterpiece.