The movie "The Big Lebowski": audience reviews, cast, plot, review of remakes

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The 1998 film "The Big Lebowski" left a noticeable mark on the creative path of the Coen brothers. The script of the project was created on the basis of Raymond Chandler's "Deep Sleep", written almost 60 years before. Of course, the famous comedy was not an exact adaptation of the book: filmmakers made their own adjustments to the plot moves and many scenes invented by the writer.

Storyline

Jeffrey Lebowski, nicknamed The Dude, is an unemployed slacker who enjoys smoking marijuana, bowling, drinking alcohol and listening to his favorite band's hits. Every day in his life is like the previous one, but everything changes when he gets involved in an adventurous story. An authoritative millionaire chooses Dude as a courier and forces him to go to a meeting with criminals who have kidnapped a young woman (the wife of this rich man). The process of transferring the ransom does not go as originally planned, and Jeffrey has to deal with a pile ofunforeseen problems. Along the way, he meets many eccentric characters.

Immediately after the film's premiere, reviews of The Big Lebowski were highly controversial, and the plot was condemned. Nevertheless, the comedy has forever remained in the list of cult projects.

Criticism

The film cannot boast of great commercial success. Most professional critics met with lukewarm reviews for The Big Lebowski. In some ratings on the Internet, the comedy fought for the title of the worst in the filmography of the Coen brothers. And yet the specific plot attracted the attention of many viewers. The abundance of humor and unexpected plot moves allowed the film to receive the title of "the first cult film in the era of the Internet." The Coens' creation has become the basis for books, websites, and even the annual Lebowski Festival.

Comedy fans have spread a whole philosophical doctrine based on its motives, and many phrases of the characters have become winged. Subsequently, many professional critics radically changed their opinion about the project, and more and more rave reviews about The Big Lebowski began to appear in the press.

Legacy

Four years after the film was released, its fans began to hold a festival named after the key character. Only one and a half hundred participants visited its opening, but subsequently this idea was picked up by fans in many American cities. At these annual meetings, fansarrange nightly bowling games, various contests and costume parties. During the weekend, everyone can participate in this action. Often the actors of the film "The Big Lebowski" become participants in the holiday - at one time Jeff Bridges himself visited it.

The film laid the foundation for the religion of dudaism (from the English dude - dude), and its main teachings have something in common with the principles of the key character. Seven years after the premiere of the comedy, the "Church of the New Dude" was founded - a virtual organization with more than 50 thousand "Dudaists". Basically, site visitors note all the positive aspects of the project, as well as analyze its plot twists in detail.

In addition, in their discussions one can often trace the idea that the worldview demonstrated by the hero of Bridges reflects the desire to resist the aggression and greed of modern society.

Cohens against remakes and sequels

The Coen brothers, who are not only the directors of the film, but also its screenwriters and producers, have repeatedly stated that they do not plan to shoot a sequel to their sensational hit. And yet, back in 2011, John Turturro began to express great interest in appearing again in the image of Jesus Quintana in front of the audience.

Initially, the character had few scenes in the Coen project, but thanks to the ideas of the role player, his screen time has increased significantly. In 2014, it became known that Turturro received permission from the authorspaintings of The Big Lebowski to use his character. In 2016, he began work on the film "Successful People", one of the heroes of which was Quintana.

Supplement

In October 2005, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the "Collector's Edition" DVD, which contained additional material for The Photographs of Jeff Bridges, "Foreword by Mortimir Young", a documentary project about the work on "Making of The Big Lebowski. A limited edition "Special Gift Set" was also released, including a bowling towel, some exclusive shots from the Bridges collection, and other noteworthy memorabilia. In the 2000s, it became obvious that despite the negative reviews for The Big Lebowski in 1998, the project was confidently gaining cult status. Ten years after the premiere of the comedy, viewers were able to get acquainted with another publication containing a fascinating interview with Ethan Cohen, explaining the most controversial scenes of the film.

Similar films

Viewers who liked the creation of the Coens, of course, counted on the continuation of the story, but the years go by, and there is still no information about a possible sequel. However, for the next viewing, you should pay attention to films similar to The Big Lebowski. Many paintings can be counted among them, and one of them is “Hesher” with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a key role.

The main character, like Dude, is skeptical about the world that surrounds him. Also among the projects similar tocreation of the Coens, one can single out the comedy thriller of the Coen brothers "Gentlemen's Games". As in their other works, the filmmakers have relied on a charismatic lead actor (Tom Hanks) and unexpected plot twists. Viewers who want to see a character with multiple addictions, like the Dude, should also choose to watch Bad Santa. In this project, Billy Bob Thornton appeared as a drunkard and a slacker who embarks on a serious adventure once a year.

Leaders

It cannot be said that the actors of The Big Lebowski (1998) opened the way to Hollywood precisely because of this comedy. At least, the performers of key roles were known to moviegoers before. For example, in the career of Jeff Bridges there were many famous paintings, including such hits as "Throne" (1982), "Man from the Star" (1984), "White Squall" (1996) and others. Subsequently, the actor starred in such well-known projects as "Iron Man", "Crazy Heart" (Bridges won an Oscar for this role), "Iron Grip", "Any Cost" and many others.

In turn, John Goodman, before The Big Lebowski, appeared in such projects as Sea of Love, Revenge of the Nerds, Sweet Dreams. Julianne Moore, who was cast as the female lead, previously starred in Jurassic Park: The Lost World, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Hitmen, and more.

Subsequently, the actress appeared in the films "Wild Grace", "Hannibal", "Seventh Son", "Still Alice",Suburbicon and others.

Of course, the mixed reviews for The Big Lebowski have once again drawn the attention of the critics to the mentioned actors, and it is possible that some subsequent high-profile roles were due to this attention.

Interesting facts

• During the entire film, the Dude drinks nine cocktails called "White Russian".
• The hero Jesus Quintana "migrated" to the project from the theatrical performance "Mi Puta Vida", which the Coen brothers accidentally got into in 1988. In the production, as in the film, the role was assigned to John Turturro.
• Reviews for The Big Lebowski have been mixed, largely due to profanity. There are 281 times "fuck" and its variations in the film.

• According to the plot, the hero of Bridges said the word "Man" 147 times.
• The original score was written by composer Carter Burwell.
• The Dude never went bowling in the movie.
• Almost all characters' lines were written for specific actors.
• According to the creators of the picture, the presence of bowling in the picture was caused by the desire to reflect the time period of the 50-60s of the twentieth century.
• When working on The Big Lebowski, its authors wanted to create a film about the life of "ordinary Americans".
• The leading characters were based on real people.