Rent The Big Lebowski (1998)

The Dude - The Big Lebowski review by CP Customer

The plot is as confused and rambling as the film's main character, but that adds to its charm: if you can follow the plot, you have probably missed the point of the film. A likeable collection of misfits (not quite the bums one charcters calls them) is pitted against a various forms of evil, with dashes of fantasy thrown in. It's very funny in parts - I liked it.

Brilliant Cult Comedy - The Big Lebowski review by GI

Like a lot of the Coen Brothers films this plays havoc with genre convention in this case the classical detective thriller and makes absurd the figure of the American screen hero. This hilarious, very clever comedy was released to some bafflement but has since become a much revered cult film and it's one of those films that actually gets richer and funnier each time you watch it. It's littered with film homages many of them playful and subversive but even if that doesn't interest you this remains a great comedy film with a career best performance from Jeff Bridges and a riotous one from John Goodman. Bridges plays a dope smoking drop out affectionally known as 'The Dude' who, along with his friends Walter (Goodman) and Donnie (Steve Buscemi) loves bowling. A case of mistaken identity sees the Dude caught in a chain of hilarious events involving a rich millionaire and his kidnapped trophy wife and weird daughter (Julianne Moore) and a whole cast of strange characters. In part this is an irreverent pastiche of Raymond Chandler's classic crime novel The Big Sleep, it's liberally addled with quotable lines and despite threats, assault and trying to control the Vietnam obsessed Walter The Dude just wants to bowl. This is a film to just go along with, it has a convoluted plot, or so it seems, but it all unravels very clearly and with some laugh out loud comedy. A great film and definitely one you should check out if you haven't seen it.

All a bit of a yawn - The Big Lebowski review by JK

I know this is regarded by many as a 'classic' Coen Brothers film but it just didn't do it for me. Why is anyone's guess: I adore Jeff Bridges, like John Goodman enormously and found Julianne Moore convincing but despite these excellent ingredients they didn't gel together. Like so many films today, if your joke set up isn't working (i.e. it's not funny) then pep it up with a stream of shouting and swearing thus alerting watchers that 'something hilarious is going to happen any day now...' I am not averse to swearing (watch Pebbles the cockatoo on Youtube) but there is a limit before it just becomes background noise, therefore wasted.

We watched this as a selected movie in our film club and most of the others found it 'wonderful/the funniest film they had ever seen etc.' so maybe my humour by-pass worked.

The set ups and jokes are laboured: Who would have guessed that JG would throw the wrong case out of the car window tee-hee.....