The Big Lebowski is awesome, but that’s just, like, my opinion, man

Naming my top film of the 90s was easy. In fact, it was the genesis of this entire project. With all apologies to Goodfellas, one of my favorite films ever, The Big Lebowski is the best film of the 90s. More than that, it is a phenomenon. It has inspired the Lebowskifest. Other Coen Brothers films have more prestige, have won more awards, but The Big Lebowski is so fantastic.

For starters, it is absolutely hilarious. It is one of the funniest movies of all time, and it is eminently quotable. In my younger days, I used to have conversations with my friends that consisted almost entirely of Big Lebowski quotes. I can’t say that about any other pop cultural entity other than The Simpsons. I tried to have a conversation consisting of Pavement lyrics, but people just assumed I was on LSD. Watch the Big Lebowski and try to not adopt phrases from it into your life. Try not to say, “Phone’s ringin, dude” or “In the parlance of our times” or, perhaps the most commonly used phrase in the movie, “Fuck it.”

However, The Big Lebowski is more than just an eminently quotable comedy. If that was the case, it’d just be Anchorman or Wayne’s World. This is a Coen Brothers film, though, so it has so much depth and is a genuine film, rather than just a comedy movie, if you gather what I am saying.

The characters are great, from Knox Harrington all the way up to Walter and The Dude. In fact, I’d have to say Walter and The Dude are two of the best characters in cinematic history. Additionally, John Goodman and Jeff Bridges do a great job acting in this movie. Again, you may not notice it since it is such a funny movie (and bright, cinematographically speaking), but Bridges is so understated as The Dude, but he nails the non-chalance needed for the role.

The Dude is such a surreptitiously deep character as well. He may be a lazy stoner bowling enthusiast, but he’s smart. At first, he’s just trying to get his rug back, but he does eventually genuinely start trying to solve the mystery.

Which brings me to the plot. Once I told a friend of mine to watch this movie ad nauseum, and the first thing he said when he finally saw it was “It had a much more elaborate plot than I imagined.” That’s probably true to the outsider. If you haven’t seen this film and are just expecting a silly comedy, you’d be wrong. There is sort of a mystery going on here. In fact, the title The Big Lebowski comes from Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep. You aren’t just getting a bunch of jokes. You are getting a plot and a mystery. Which is what makes The Dude even more awesome. Imagine taking Sam Spade out of The Maltese Falcon and replacing him with a stoner who goes shopping in a robe. That’s The Big Lebowski.

Plus, you get better music and cinematography to boot. This movie is beautifully shot. Part of the reason bowling is involved in this film is because the Coen Bros. thought it was going to come across well on the screen. Does it ever. While as I said earlier the film is quite bright occasionally to the point of being distracting, you don’t see cinematography like this in your typical comedy. Judd Apatow can’t pull this shit off. As for the music, not only do they choose a lot of good songs, but they use them well. It was like the Coen Brothers were channeling Scorsese for a film.

There’s so much more to enjoy about this film. Steve Buscemi is in it. So is Phillip Seymour Hoffman in a small, understated role. It is just so eminently enjoyable almost all the way through. Many have posited what this film is “about.” Some have declared it a referendum on the cultural wasteland of the 90s (the film takes place around the Gulf War). Others have posited that it is about the philosophy of Albert Camus. Me? Well I once wrote a paper about it being a film that turns film noir on its head. We all know the Coen Brothers love film noir. They just decided to take the classic film noir and make it as bright and shiny as possible, and replace the bitter, hard boiled detective and replace him with a pacifist stoner who just wants to replace his rug. It real tied the room together.

If you haven’t seen this movie, I cannot recommend it highly enough. There is a very good chance you’ll be sucked into the cult of Lebowski. It’s not a bad life, however. You’ll find yourself with tons of new quotes to use and find yourself going back to the movie again and again. So grab some In-N-Out Burger, pop in some Creedence, and enjoy The Big Lebowski.