The Big Lebowski

The “Dude” (Jeff Bridges) just wants to go through life drinking and bowling so is a bit narked when two thugs break into his apartment demanding cash! They’ve got the wrong “Lebowski” but only discover that after they’ve micturated on his rug! Determined to get some recompense, he goes to the correct one (David Huddleston) where he is given short shrift but decides to help himself to one of the many rugs that dot the man’s mansion and he also takes a bit of a shine to his young trophy wife! Days later, he is summoned back by the butler “Brandt” (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and told that she has been kidnapped and that he is to help them deliver $1,000,000 to the felons. He reckons she’s probably behind the crime herself, but agrees - for a fee, and recruits his loud mouthed mate “Walter” (John Goodman) to help out. That’s not all, though! It turns out that there’s yet another “Lebowski” and she’s his daughter “Maude” (Julianne Moore). She’s an energetically enigmatic, quite ruthless, woman who points out that the cash they are proposing to use is actually not her dad’s - and she needs it back. With the scene now set, the capers quickly escalate and no rug is safe! Bridges leads this ensemble cast really well here as the story lurches from one disastrous escapade to another, marrying some witty dialogue with some borderline slapstick and all held together via White Russians and the bowling alley. Moore is also on good form as is the less-is-more performance from an underused but amiable Steve Buscemi as the third wheel on their wagon “Donny”. The plot itself doesn’t really matter, it’s largely incidental to the engaging efforts of all except, maybe, for a Goodman whose constant expletives lose their potency quite quickly as his character becomes a bit too boorish. It is laugh out loud funny at times and as a semi-satirical look at layabout life, wealth and drug crime it’s well worth a look.