Joel & Ethan Coen
Il Grande Lebowski

The greatness of the Coen brothers lies in pushing the boundaries with each film, going beyond the limit set by the previous one: if Fargo defined, after a continuous series of approaches, the "Coen style" with its blend of noir, comedy, and grotesque situations, The Big Lebowski uses this same blend (at its core, we have another kidnapping with a ransom) to stage a parody of the genre, crafting the duo's most successful and sensational comedy, a film initially considered minor and overlooked, but over the years, it has become a cult of 90s American cinema.

Los Angeles, 1990: Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is a slacker (essentially a chronic loafer) who spends his life between bowling games, high doses of white Russian, and some hallucinogens whenever they come up. His best friends are Vietnam veteran Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) and the small and silent (but not by his choice) Donny (Steve Buscemi in his last appearance in a Coen film). His existence will be disrupted by the encounter-clash, due to a case of mistaken identity, with the equally quirky family of the millionaire and paraplegic Jeffrey Lebowski. The old billionaire, attended by his loyal servant Brandt (Philip Seymour Hoffman), has an artist daughter, Maude (Julianne Moore), and a young and "free spirit" second wife, Bunny. The latter will be kidnapped, and a ransom will be demanded from old Lebowski, and it will be the unfortunate Lebosky who has to unravel a mess more tangled than it may seem.

More than the plot itself, the numerous characters need to be highlighted, each absurd in their way but perfectly characterized, making them seem real, populating the film even if they appear only for a few seconds: from Jesus Quintana (John Turturro), a bowling-playing pederast dressed in a ridiculous purple jumpsuit, to the fascist head of the Malibu police, from the old cowboy (who is the story's narrator) to the private investigator Da Fino (Jon Polito) to the 3 nihilists (one of whom is Flea from RHCP), not to mention the equally grotesque and entertaining situations in which The Dude (almost never by his own will) gets involved; conversely, it's almost always Walter's unclear mind that causes trouble, from mistakenly destroying a beautiful Corvette with a bowling ball to knocking the paralyzed Lebowski out of his chair, up to the ending (sad but turning into a celebration of the fallen in Vietnam) of their friend's funeral, with Donny's ashes ending up all over The Dude's face.

An important innovation compared to previous films is the soundtrack, for the first time not just musical background but often the scene's protagonist, filled with 60s-70s rock hits, from Creedence Clearwater Revival (a favorite of The Dude) to Bob Dylan, from Gypsy Kings covering the Eagles' "Hotel California" to that "Just Dropped In (to see in what condition my condition was in)" by Kenny Rodgers & The First Auditions played in full during a dreamlike scene almost resembling a music video.

If one thinks it's just a senseless film, one can be assured it's not; the "Coen-thought" is always subtly traceable under heaps of comedy. At the base, we always have the theme of chaos, and how even the simplest situations can inexplicably lead to intricate stories: in this case, the trigger that sets everything off is merely a complaint The Dude makes to the millionaire Lebowski about a soiled carpet. The homonymy between the two Lebowskis symbolizes two different ways of dealing with a soldier's past: the old man lost the use of his legs in Korea and directed his life towards social climbing, while The Dude, like Walter and Donny, are children of another war, Vietnam, from which they seem not to have recovered, as evidenced by their nearly complete detachment from empty and consumerist American society.
Opposed to this society of producing and doing at all costs is nihilism, towards which nearly all the characters' lives tend and is parodied by the 3 clumsy nihilists; while the elderly Lebowski spent his life building, The Dude spends his life in slippers, only thinking about bowling and driving a beat-up car; nothing makes sense in life, The Dude is swept from one situation to another like a bowling ball and always comes out unscathed, while those who stayed in the background like the poor Donny die unexpectedly without explanation.

As always, the Coens mix reality and fiction in their improbable plots: if The Dude and Walter's characters were created by assembling the personalities of several of the duo's friends, part of the plot (and even the film's title) recalls Raymond Chandler's novel The Big Sleep. There's also a certain self-irony: while Steve Buscemi's character in the previous film was truly loquacious, in this film he's continuously silenced, yet both die unexpectedly in the same way.

The Big Lebowski will remain a cult film not only for its content but for creating an actual icon, the quintessential anti-hero of 90s cinema, The Dude, now part of the collective imagination and to whom sociological essays, festivals, and even a religion, Dudeism, are dedicated.

"Take it easy, Dude!"
Sure, The Dude knows how to wait.."

RATING = 9.5