Directed by: The Coen Brothers Main Cast: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore
Summary: Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski is the ultimate LA slacker, until one day his house is broken into and his rug is peed on by two angry gangsters who have mistaken him for Jeffrey Lebowski, the LA millionaire, whose wife owes some bad people some big money. The Dude becomes entangled in the plot when he goes to visit the real Lebowski in order to get some retribution for his soiled rug, and is recruited to be the liason between Lebowski and the captors of his now "kidnapped" wife.
Review: This was my 2nd viewing on this one, and after seeing that it was one of Irishman's favorite movies and kind of recently appreciating the Coen brothers more, I was really looking forward to giving this one a rewatch and seeing if I could alter my lackluster initial opinion of it.
I cannot say that I didn't like it, but for some reason this one just doesn't have the flare to me that some of the Coens other work has. The perfect cast for what's written, and a good storyline, but there seems to be something I can't quite put my finger on. I felt maybe as though they had some underdeveloped characters, with the brief appearances by Jon Polito, John Turturro, and Steve Buscemi stuck in a supporting role. Again, not that Bridges and Goodman weren't great.
Still a very inventive piece, with good humor and quirkiness, and good music, I downloaded the dream song by Bob Dylan, can't stop listening to it. Ultimately, better then O Brother Where Art Thou, Intolerable Creulty, and maybe Barton Fink, but not as good as anything else of the Coen's I've seen. Hopefully their next one is as good as their best stuff.
Direction – 18/20 Acting – 19/20 Story – 13/15 Rewatchability – 11/15 Music – 9/10 Depth – 5/10 Cinematography – 5/5 Supporting Cast – 5/5 TOTAL = 85%
85% = 3.5/5 Stars
Best Quote: "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."
