I finally got around to renting The Big Lebowski and the
nicest thing I can say about it is that I very much enjoyed the
soundtrack.
Dude Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is one of those movie characters
that we're just supposed to like because he's unflappable, bowls
and wears a bathrobe all the time. He is mistaken for a rich
Lebowski, the Big One himself (David Huddleston), and his carpet
is peed on. This upset him, so he takes a trip to see Lebowski
and get his carpet back. He is successful and, apparently, his
success is supposed to be amusing. I am not sure why.
For reasons that also remain unclear but seem related to his
success in snagging a carpet, he is then asked to help out when
Lebowski's wife is kidnapped and enlists his best friend, Walter
(John Goodman, who is very convincing), to help drop off a
suitcase with the ransom money. The dropoff fails, the suitcase
is lost, the wife wasn't really kidnapped, there wasn't any money
in the suitcase, and somewhere along the line it makes sense for
an extraneous character to have a heart attack and be cremated.
And no, I'm not making any of this up.
The plot might fool the unwary non-native naifs who enjoy the
sound of the word "Duuuuuuuude" rolled off the tongues
of various well-regarded indy superstars. Innocents suckered in
by the loony "charming" characters might actually
delude themselves into thinking the plot is a charming
amalgamation of happenstance. At least, thats the only reason I
can see for otherwise sane people to have enjoyed this film.
Alas, I don't care for character development that seeks to
substitute weird behavior for personalities, so the surface shit
didn't distract me sufficiently from noticing that Lebowski has
nothing new to offer. It is the weakest of all Coen efforts I've
seen--badly constructed, wholly dependent on a single device, a
variant on the "Idiot Boss" known as "Psychotic
Friend and Fuckup".
I wonder if people who liked it thought John Goodman,
Psychotic Friend, was funny? Maybe that's what it takes. Me, I'm
the sort of person who thinks that Thelma and Louise would have
been greatly improved if Louise had shot Thelma instead of the
would-be rapist. Sound cruel? No. Every single thing that got
T&L into trouble in the first three quarters of the movie is
caused by the fact that Thelma is a disgusting and ignorant skank
whose inconsiderate and slightly oafish husband is far too good
for her. Fortunately, T&L ends happily. (Phew. Rant over.)
Goodman is Lebowski's Thelma. Bridges is relegated to a sort
of whiny, helpless spouse whose dialogue boils down to variations
on the theme of "Man, what the fuck are you doing?".
I really tuned out much of the movie, checking periodically to
see if the pattern had changed and going back to my book when I
saw the PF factor was still at work. I did like Philip Seymour
Hoffman as the assistant of the Real Lebowski, and some of the
dream sequences were a nice break from the movie itself--although
they were an unforgiveable interruption to the plot. Julianne
Moore is wasted unless you're Ace or Niner but even her kink was
kind of boring; I can think of more enjoyable activities for a
trapeze. Bridges was fine, given what he had to work with.
Goodman is okay--it's his character I can't stand, not his acting.
And the soundtrack was a great backdrop to the much more
interesting book that I turned to in order to avoid the
discomfort of the movie. I bought it that day.
