The Big Lebowski - 20th Anniversary Edition 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital [4K UHD]

As a college student with a very busy schedule, life can be very stressful at times. For me, when I get stressed I watch films. This has been my favorite pastimes for many years and, in those years, I have seen many movies. Some of the movies have been entertaining and well made, while others have been complete failures. One film that is among the more memorable is the Coen brothers’ film The Big Lebowski. This 1998 comedy is certainly one of the best, and most hilarious, films I have ever watched. The hilarious dialogue, enthralling story, and great acting are what make The Big Lebowski one of the most influential films in recent years.The dialogue is one of the most effective pieces in this film. It is certainly a film that I, and many people around me, quote frequently. One of the most memorable lines in the movie is the classic, “The rug really tied the room together,” (The Big Lebowski), which is repeated numerous times throughout the film. This is funny because the rug, that is so frequently mentioned, was urinated on at the very beginning of the movie and, it is the only reason why the Dude pushes on through the madness during the film. Another, and equally memorable, quote in the film is at the very end of the film when the Dude utters, “Yeah? Well, the Dude abides,” (The Big Lebowski). This laid back comment is so comical because the Dude has gone through so much at this point in the film, yet he is still content with the way things ended up. The memorable dialogue in The Big Lebowski is credited to the movie’s brilliant writers Joel and Ethan Coen, who also directed the film.Another great component of the Coen brother’s writing can be seen in the film’s outrageous story. There are so many twists and turns in this movie which just adds to the hilarity of it all. The film starts with a bang when the Dude returns to his home, after grocery shopping, and is attacked by two men asking, “Where’s the money Lebowski?” (The Big Lebowski). The comedy in this scene comes from, the Dude getting mistaken for another Jeffrey Lebowski, and being the inciting incident that throws the Dude immediately into his absurd quest for a new rug. Another hilarious part of the film is when John Goodman’s character, Walter Sobchak the Vietnam War vet, destroys a Corvette he mistakenly thought was a young boys’, with a crowbar, which resulted in the car’s true owner smashing the Dude’s car. In any movie, no matter how good the writing is, the actors must be able to deliver it in a way that is believable. In the case of The Big Lebowski, it must also be funny, and that is exactly what the actors were able to accomplish.The acting is by far the most important aspect of the entire movie. Everyone who was cast in The Big Lebowski was able to deliver every joke with great timing, yet make their character believable even though the story is so off the wall. Jeff Bridges’ portrayal of the Dude could not have been better because he was able to make the absurdity going on around him completely believable. A great example of Bridges’ ability to do this is in the scene where the Dude gets one of his friends ashes thrown in his face while spreading them in the ocean. What makes Jeff Bridges’ acting so funny in this scene is his stoic face and almost non-existent reaction. John Goodman also did a fantastic job as Walter in this film. As his character, Goodman had to go from being completely calm, to being furious, back to acting completely calm in an instant and that’s exactly what he did. The scene that Goodman demonstrates this best is when he pulls a gun on one of his friends for not marking their foul while bowling. To this day, whenever I see Bridges in a film, I immediately think of the Dude.While there are many fans of the film, it is, of course, not for everyone. The biggest complaint I have heard from the people that I have recommended the movie to has been that, while there are many surprises in it, the film doesn’t really go anywhere, which is exactly what I thought the first time I watched the film. Although I do see their point, I think the reason why somebody would say something like this is because, what the Dude is trying to do is get a new rug, since the two men from the beginning of the film peed on his first one. This, to most people, is not a story worth telling or watching, but the movie is more about the Dude’s journey than what he is seeking.I would recommend The Big Lebowski to anybody looking for a good laugh. The one piece of advice I would give, though, is that if you don’t like it the first time give it at least one more chance, if not two chances, all the way through. Because of the film’s memorable dialogue, ridiculous story, and great acting, I would give The Big Lebowski a whole hearted A+.

First, read all seven novels of Raymond Chandler. That's the beginning. (Yes, The Dude is Marlowe.)Next, compare the film to two other all-time greats: Richard Lester's A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (music; nearly flawless cinematography; absurd and jarring juxtapositions) and Richard Linklater's BEFORE SUNRISE (the thematic similarity: the attempt to communicate meaningfully as a member of the human species). If you don't get the connections I suggest, then you won't get the connections. (There's a beverage here, man!)Next, recognize that cult films reverberate for a reason. Meeting a random guy at a bar with whom one suddenly forms a strong bond when one utters the line, "Effing Nazis": that's indicative of deep structures. One must assume that this film reaches far into the human psyche without one's needing to understand why.Next, recognize that the casting is perfect, as is the frame-by-frame editing. Note that The Stranger makes the film possible.Note that the music is as big a character as Walter and the Dude. Without the music, it would not be the greatest film ever made.Note that one primary theme is the human race's attempt to communicate with mutual understanding and that in every instance in the film, the attempt fails. (Again, compare with BEFORE SUNRISE. Linklater's film is the other end of the continuum, but the theme is precisely the same.)Note, then, the irony that the audience understands this perfectly (that the film is about the inability of humans to understand one another), even if one might not be able to articulate the idea.Note that one of the reasons the film cuts so deeply is that we ourselves are The Dude. (We have seen ourselves, and we are The Dude. And we are Walter. And Donny. And little Larry.)Note that one can watch the film a seemingly infinite number of times and still find nuances that one has missed. The film coheres and coheres and coheres, although it's a film about incoherence.Note how well one can make analogies with other works that feature Jungian archetypes: THE WIZARD OF OZ; GONE WITH THE WIND; DEATH OF A SALESMAN; riff on forever--this is a remarkable embodiment of our heroes with a thousand faces.)Note that the jokes never cease to be funny. "An Irish monk?" "It's already the tenth." "The Supreme Court has roundly rejected Prior Restraint."Okay, that's enough from me. The Coens had extra time on this one because of the delay in getting Bridges and Goodman at the same time. So these fanatic storyboarders had time to be more fanatical than usual. They were inspired. The timing was right. They transcended themselves. There is no explanation.Serious scholars can write enlightening books about this film. I suggest a few angles above. The Chandler interconnections alone are worth a monograph.But one need not write such stuff unless one enjoys the process.Because that, too, is the whole point: Enjoy it. Despite the police chief of Mailbu, it's the whole dern human comedy. Watch it again and again because one then can feel that one wasn't gypped by the good Lord.(And if you never got it: "I see England, I see France; I see queenie's underpants." That's a clunker.)Here's what I wrote years ago about the film. It's still true:One needs to have a pronounced sense of absurdity to appreciate this film. But personally having an existence in which I have been forced to worship the Great God Irony, I find THE BIG LEBOWSKI to be truly a perfect film. Its humor is incessant; its ensemble cast performs flawlessly; the closing image of a professional bowler scoring yet another strike surely is emblematic of the film's own technical, emotional, artistic, intellectual, and psychological success.Jeff Bridges as the Dude, a sixties burn-out and slacker--and John Goodman as Walter Sobchek, Vietnam Vet and devout Jew--form a heavenly union. The shaggy-dog-story plot is the skeleton upon which hangs an utterly immaculate set of absurdist images, from the Hispanic deodorizer of shoes to the BRANDED writer in the iron lung to the blanket-tossed beach party babe (whose costume changes to a devilish red when she's glimpsed in the Dude's dream sequence: only the Coen brothers could incorporate such minor details with such intelligence and purpose!).I've watched this film literally twenty times. Its power does not fade. It satisfies every time. Each moment, each camera angle, each cut, each fade, each expression, each utterance: perfection itself! The maniacally laughing policeman in the car lot; the In-and-Out Burgers through the broken windshield; the crematorial ashes in the Dude's face: what brilliance!Buy it; watch it again and again. Ye who have eyes and ears to see and hear--enjoy!To all the people involved in making the film: congratulations on being in precisely the right place at the right time. Life almost never works this way. And that's why we like the Dude at the check-out line with the half-and-half on his mustache. The Dude: C'est moi!