I’ve been home for two days this week to get some rest. Spending my free time stuck on the couch, I thought I’d use it to watch a popular movie that I lack a reasonable excuse to have not watched yet. I queued up the Netflix PS3 disc, and selected The Big Lebowski, a 1998 Coen brothers movie starring Jeff Bridges and the usual Coen brothers cast of memorable actors.
This was an interesting movie. Jeff Bridges plays a fellow named Lebowski, but I was always under the impression that he was the “Big Lebowski.” Bridges plays “The Dude”, a slacker with slacker friends living in southern California. He gets mixed up with this millionaire Jeffrey Lebowski, who is apparently the real “Big Lebowski.” Starting off with an initial case of mistaken identity, it morphs into a strange tale of kidnapping. Without giving away any spoilers, I will say that I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the ending, as I felt that it was too unresolved for me. I’m not even quite sure what the movie was trying to tell me. It felt like it was a short story with not a lot of meaning, but just a retelling of events that happened.
What I did like were the motley crew of odd characters, played by character actors and actresses that I have seen before in other Coen and cult indie favorite movies — Julianne Moore, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Turturro and of course Peter Stormare. Heck, even Tara “Is that Coke in my nose?” Reid had a small but pivotal role. They were all interesting, but I most enjoyed John Goodman, Julianne Moore, and even John Turturro in a small but hilarious role. The music and strange dream sequences were entertaining too. I suppose the movie itself was a bit meaningless, but the outrageous quotes were the major entertainment factor for me. Overall, I found the movie to be weirdly engaging.
Yup, that’s what I’m going with. Weirdly engaging.