I started the thread because I wanted to read the opinions of those who liked the movie. Also, I wanted to read the opinions of those who like the Coens, but didn’t like Lebowski.
You say you’ve given it more than one try, so I don’t know what to say. All I can do is add on to the list of those who say it’s a movie that grows on you the more times you see it. From what I’ve seen, the number of people who now rate it as one of their all time favorite comedies thought it was just meh to ok the first time they saw it – me included.
The only bit of advice I have is not to waste any energy at all trying to follow the plot. The plo completely doesn’t matter. It’s about the individual scenes and the dialogue – and the dialogue is brilliant. It’s one of themost quotable movies of all time.
But if you don’t like it, well, that’s just like, your opinion, man.
The scene that always gets me is that, after wrecking some guy’s car with extreme, pointless violence, they’re all riding back home with food from In n’Out. Because it’s “near” there.
I think it’s one of the dumbest stupidest wastes of time on celluloid.
My reaction to it was lukewarm at first but it grows on me every time.
My wife fell asleep the first time, she was so bored. Every subsequent viewing she’s been rolling on the floor laughing.
I do like me some exceptional weird randomness, though.
No Country for Old Men was incomprehensible to me until I read the book and realized it’s the sheriff and not Llewellyn who’s the main character. After that, I merely found it unwatchable–but I’m prejudiced about movies with no goddamn ending where my favorite character who I thought was the protagonist dies off-screen.
Loved O Brother Where Art Thou. I need to see that again.
It was the first movie I saw in the theater twice. Consecutive Saturdays, I believe.
I love how it turns all of the noir conventions on their heads(spoilers):
unlikely hero - taken to absurd heights
the femme fatale, Maude - isn’t, she’s actually after life!
the crime - there is no kidnapping
hero knocked unconscious - but we get two highly unique trippy sequences
To fully appreciate the film, one first has to watch The Big Sleep, of which The Big Lebowski is a direct and intentional parody. Whereas in the former film Bogart plays a detective that is always two steps ahead of everyone (even though the convoluted plotting ends up making little sense), Bridges portrayal of stoner ‘Dude’ Lebowski ends up being about three steps behind everyone, even though the plot is ultimately coherent but pointless.
If you are the sort of viewer who insists on having a definitive resolution and purpose, The Big Lebowski isn’t your movie. The Coen Brothers openly and avowedly endorse this, to the point of having their narrator point it out to the audience. “‘The Dude abides.’ I don’t know about you, but I take comfort in that.” Either you’re in on the joke, or you’re the butt of the joke, I guess.
Brilliant movie (as was The Man Who Wasn’t There, and for entirely the same reason) but not for everyone. Fortunately, the Coens cover the gamut from quirky comedies to black humor to craptastical romantic comedies. If you don’t like their current film, wait until the next one; it’s likely to be something completely different.
Stranger
Firstly, it helps if you are steeped in film noir, particularly The Big Sleep; North By Northwest; Murder, My Sweet; The Maltese Falcon to name a few. There are devices that appear in these movies, certain themes - TBL takes these and twists them, turns them on their head. For instance, many film noirs have a voice over narration, but unless said narrator is part of the actual story, he remains unseen.
Secondly, it’s the little things that strike a chord with many people - Jackie Treehorn’s thugs, switch their outfits in their scenes; the repetitive lines (this aggression will not stand; the parlance of our times; lotta ins, lotta outs (in and out); the amazing cast, some of whom have only one scene (outside of the main characters, Peter Stormare, Flea, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, John Turturro, Carlos Leon (father of Madonna’s daughter), Dom Irrera, David Thewlis, Jon Polito, Ben Gazarra, Amy Mann); John Turturro’s performance as Jesus (he’s only in 3 minutes of the movie).
Lastly, and most important is that you need to have a sense of humor.
It took me a while to find “The Big Lebowski” appealing but now I am a big fan of this movie. As others have said, just about everything in this movie is quotable:
**Donny: **They were Nazis, Dude?
Walter Sobchak: Oh, come on Donny, they were threatening castration! Are we gonna split hairs here? Am I wrong?
That rug really tied the room together.
The Dude singing the theme from “Branded”.
John Goodman’s performance is underappreciated in that movie. He’s brilliant in it. he should have gotten an Oscar nomination. Every monologue is a gem.
Of course the writing is brilliant too.
I saw it in the theatre with my brother. I don’t think either one of us had ever heard of it - hell, I don’t think we knew who the Coens were at the time. He was home on leave from the Marines and there was nothing else to do so we went to the movies and ended up in that one somehow. We laughed our asses off. I don’t think I really “got it” the first time around, but I recognized a lot of the funny parts. On subsequent viewings the story made more sense and I realized that most of the stuff I thought was boring filler on the first viewing was actually pretty damn funny itself. It was a good few years later before we realized it was a cult hit; we kind of thought it was a bomb that not many people knew or cared about. When I met my wife one of the millions of things I thought was awesome about her was that she had The Big Lebowski on DVD.
I honestly don’t remember the first time I saw it, but I had a roomate who loved it and we saw it enough that it grew on me or I liked it right off, I’m not sure.
My favorite scene is when Lebowski is giving his speech about being a bum, and the Dude is puttin’ on his sunglasses, he doesn’t say anything, he’s just like, man, I need my shades for this speech.
:eek: No competition? NO COMPETITION?? Did they not see There Will Be Blood?? The only thing that eases the sting of TWBB and PTA not winning the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars is that a) there were nominations, unlike Andrew Dominik and his brilliant film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which was, IMO, the 3rd best American movie of the year and was ignored in the Picture and Director categories, b) Daniel Day Lewis won, of course, and c) the losses were to the Coens/NCFOM.
I do love The Big Lebowski, but like others, it didn’t hit me the first time I saw it. I think it was the 3rd time when it all suddenly clicked into place and made sense to my sense of humor. Now I think it’s hilarious.
It also included an old-fashioned vaudeville spit-take, just like Danny Thomas used to do! “Uh, let me explain something about The Dude…”
It’s one of my favorite movies.
Part of it is the brilliant way it riffs of the film noir genre. Part is how quotable it is, and how even after dozens of viewings I still find tiny details that are hilarious.
Yes, the plot is pretty secondary to the characters. I think that is the biggest problem people have with this movie- they are looking for a plot.
And my obligatory favorite line “Larry, the man is here”
Ad in the taxi: “Yeah, I got a rash.”
Like many others, meh the first time, increasingly funny the subsequent times. My wife, however, loved it from the start.
Favorite line, one that’s entered our daily lexicon: “… not the compromised second draft.” Next favorite: “It brings the room together.”
The best part is that Walter was actually right, and it was someone else’s toe.
My favorite scene was the Dude talking to the sheriff. “He treats objects like women, man!”
and “I’m sorry, I wasn’t listening,” followed by the sheriff throwing the coffee mug at him. My wife had to leave the theater she was laughing so hard at that.
I’ve tried and failed twice to watch it all the way through. It’s the most teeth-grindingly irritating and stupid movie I can think of. I loved every other movie by the Coen brothers that I’ve ever seen; even the much-despised The Ladykillers. The Big Lebowski as a whole irritates me too much to watch, and the specifically the character of The Dude makes me want to kick a hole in my TV every moment he is on screen.
I have no idea why people compare Burn After Reading to Lebowski. The two movies were trying to go for something completely different. Burn After Reading and Fargo is a far better comparison.
Like a lot of people I didn’t like this movie the first time I watched, I couldn’t even get all the way through the first time. Then about two years later my sister bought me the DVD for my birthday, not knowing I didn’t like the movie, and I decided to try again and I loved it. I think I was too hung up on the plot the first time around and the second time I kind of ignored the plot and just enjoyed the characters.