Hate it, I do not. It was friggin’ hilarious to me and remains so. As for why I like it? I’m not analyzing it because it’s just a movie. Somma us wimmins loves us The Big Lebowski. It’s just a movie, people. Don’t harsh the mellow… 
And that’s bad?
It is, at least, less than entertaining for me. It also seems to go against the basic principles of storytelling, though I admit they are more like guidelines.
My wife absolutely hated it, while I found it merely dull. It’s the only Coen brothers movie I’ve seen that I consider a complete waste of my time.
I’m male, and I don’t like The Big Lebowski at all. I’ve seen it three or four times, and I found it just gave me a headache. Which is strange, because not only do I love the Coen Brothers (O Brother and Miller’s Crossing are two of the best movies ever made), but I really like the Dude and John Goodman’s character. I just can’t get into the plot; for some reason, it really grates on me.
The Big Lebowski is the Coen Brothers movie I’ve disliked the least. Basically, they’re a wash as far as I’m concerned. Descriptions of them make them sound like movies I ought to like, but they all seem dull and their humor seem flat.
I found the plot irritating and pointless; recycling the million-dollar-fake-kidnapping bit from their previous film was just lazy.
I like the movie, because so many of the components are good; great scenes, great lines, and some wonderful acting. It’s hard not to like Jeff Bridges. The Dude. But I don’t love the movie because - unlike the Dude’s room, when the rug’s in it - it just isn’t brought together. The various components work individually but there’s really no cohesive whole, no thread that makes it interesting as a story. Julianne Moore’s character is funny but really doesn’t have a place in the story. Donny’s death is pointless - it does set up the hilarious funeral scene, but that’s all. It just sort of careens from scene to scene, and then ends. It’s kind of like watching a standup comic’s 90-minute VHS tape (“George Carlin Live With The Same Jokes He’s Been Telling For 25 Years,” or “Dennis Miller Tries To Work In A Reference To Proust!”); it’s funny, but just because it’s a succession of gags.
I got the sense that the Coens had come up with a cool character and some great scenes and didn’t decide until the week before they sent the scripts out what the story was gonna be.
JOEL: Okay, these scenes are great! We have to stick them together somehow.
ETHAN: How?
(Crickets chirp)
JOEL: Ummm, how about a fake kidnapping?
ETHAN: Worked in Fargo. Let’s stitch this together.
You’ve put it exactly right, RickJay. Thanks for articulating that.
One vote for the Big L from me! Loved the movie, as well as all Coen Brothers movies. Yet my wife does not like them. She just says that they are not her “style”, whatever that may be. With one exception, she LOVES “Raising Arizona”.
I’ve run into both kinds of women. Those who liked The Big Lebowski and those that hated it. I, personally, love the movie (I got the DVD as soon as it was released), so I tend to like those women who enjoyed the movie ;).
Had to top this to let folks know The Big L is goin’ fer $7.50 at Target right now (that’s DVD)!
Moody grabbed his copy, oh you betcha.
Well, it’s not a plot idea recycled from their earlier movies, and it’s not a bunch of scenes thrown together with no structure. It’s the Coen brothers doing an early-90’s Gulf War stoner reinterpretation of The Big Sleep. They’ve said as much in interviews, I believe.
Been there, done that. But I LOVE the movie. My husband hated it though.
I wonder whatever happened to TN*Hippie, he was the SDMB’s Dude.
Jeeze, the tension . . . I bought TBL last month, but I’ve had a hard time finding the time to watch it (I work at night, the kids are around during the day, and when my wife and I get together on my days off, we tend to watch lighter fare).
I know, I’ll get to it. I loved “Fargo” and “Blood Simple” and “O Brother,” but I don’t know how I’ll react to TBL. It’s becoming a hip litmus test.
I fucking loooove this movie. I keep hoping to have an argument with someone so I can slip in the line “this aggression will not stand…man.”
I think my favorite bit is The Dude’s run in with the Chief of Police in Malibu. I’m giggling just thinking about it.
Wha?
How can anyone, male or female, hate that movie?
If you’re talking about disliking Lebowski as a person, then yeah, I’m female and I can’t really stand to be around guys like that.
But I can appreciate him in the movie.
For the Lebowski bashers … If you didn’t like the movie, what is the funniest movie you have seen? I’m just wondering if you have a different funny-bone, or perhaps no funny-bone at all.
Exactly. You don’t have to like the character to enjoy him as a character. I mean, I think I would have really effin’ hated Norman Bates as a person, but he’s a pretty cool character, and Psycho was a good movie.
Funnily enough, O Brother Where Art Thou?. A comic joy from beginning to end.
So you’re a ‘Dapper Dan’ man then?