THE BIG LEBOWSKI

Year: 1998
Director: Joel Coen
Screenwriters: Joel and Ethan Coen

Main Cast:

Jeff Bridges – The Dude, Duder, El Duderino
John Goodman – Walter
Steve Buscemi – Donny
David Huddlestone – The Big Lebowski
Julianne Moore – Maude
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Brandt
Tara Reid – Bunny
Peter Stormare – Uli Kunkel, Karl Hungus
John Turturro – Jesus
David Thewlis – Knox Harrington
Ben Gazzara – Jackie Treehorn
Sam Elliot – The Stranger

What a fucking great movie, man. The Dude is the One. I don’t agree with the Narrator when he says that the Dude is a man of his time. El Duderino (because I’m not into the whole brevity thing) is timeless. He is the embodiment of “chilling out”, the epitome of idleness, my guru on how to enjoy life. He is my Zen master.

The film is sheer Coen Brothers gold. The dialogue is just perfect. I’ve learned recently that, with the exception of the “human paraquat” allusion, which was Jeff Bridges’ improvising, every word the characters utter was scripted, including all the “man”, the “fuck” and its variations. The knowledge that the Coen brothers have of speech patterns and rhythms is unprecedented. However, you couldn’t say that they merely reproduce the exact way people talk, because they are creative, they go beyond, especially in terms of vocabulary. Their scripts are literature; they are experts at manipulating language. Here follow two examples:

1) The Dude: Walter, what is the point? Look, we all know who is at fault here, what the fuck are you talking about?
Walter: Huh? No, what the fuck are you... I'm not... We're talking about unchecked aggression here, dude.
Donny: What the fuck is he talking about?
The Dude: My rug.
Walter: Forget it, Donny, you're out of your element!
The Dude: Walter, the chinaman who peed on my rug, I can't go give him a bill, so what the fuck are you talking about?
Walter: What the fuck are you talking about? The chinaman is not the issue here, Dude. I'm talking about drawing a line in the sand, Dude. Across this line, you DO NOT... Also, Dude, chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian-American, please.
The Dude: Walter, this isn't a guy who built the railroads here. This is a guy...
Walter: What the fuck are you...?
The Dude: Walter, he peed on my rug!
Donny: He peed on the Dude's rug.
Walter: Donny you're out of your element! Dude, the Chinaman is not the issue here!

And 2) Walter: Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.

There is also a wide variety of immensely funny characters around. I love the Jesus. All in purple, licking the bowling ball and dancing flamenco after getting a strike, John Turturro really went wild on this one. He’s absolutely hilarious. Julianne Moore as a parody of the contemporary artist is also fantastic. She has great scenes: the one in which she is painting, the one she is stimulating her body to conceive after having sex with the Dude and the one, again accompanied by the Dude, in which she makes a point about men being embarrassed about saying the word “vagina”. Finally, Peter Stormare, who was very lucky to get a character who is simultaneously a porn actor – fortunately named Karl Hungus – a member of the band “Autobahn” (a parody of “Kraftwerk”) and a nihilist with a very funny German accent. Dressed in full-body red tights when he makes an appearance in one of the Dude’s hallucinations, he is nothing more than a joy to watch.

Now, without giving much away, I have to mention the funniest scene of the entire decade. A certain character dies. Walter and the Dude get to keep the ashes in order to throw them in the ocean. When Walter does the throwing, something unpredictable happens. I always have a huge laugh, no matter how many times I watch it.

One may ask about the message underneath here. The Dude’s philosophy is repeated by him every time he’s having an argument with his profoundly nasty and deliciously annoying best friend, Walter, which takes place in nearly each scene they share. “Walter! Will you just take it easy, man! Fuck, man! Take it easy!!” That’s it, nothing more. Take it easy. Life always turns around. Nothing is forever, even if you are in a deep fucking shenanigan, as it is frequently the case with the Dude and Walter.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen “The Big Lebowski”, go and fucking watch it immediately! What the fuck are you talking about, reader? You haven’t seen this fucking comic masterpiece? We are talking about one of the fucking best films of the 90s! What the fuck are doing standing there?

And if you have, watch it again, otherwise, let me tell you something, pendejo. You pull any of your crazy shit with me, you don’t see this film, I'll take it away from you, stick it up your ass and press the fucking play button 'til it goes "click." After all, nobody fucks with the Jesus!

Grade: FF (Fucking Fantastic)

Link at imdb.