dear fans of "the big lebowski"

[rone]

What the fuck, over?  This movie is not funny, it is not memorable, and it is not enjoyable.  It's a story that reads like it was written by some pinhead with ADD who heavily self-medicates with marijuana; a ridiculous amount of random things happened for no damn discernible reason or even a more than tenuous connection between them.  I am a charter member of the Jeff Bridges Fan Club and the way he was wasted was nearly criminal, and the same goes for Steve Buscemi.  The movie needed a lot less John Goodman and a lot more John Turturro.  It feels like some film student decided to ape the Coen brothers.  If i hadn't rented this movie for free with a coupon, i would feel totally ripped off.  Something about the movie made me dodge it when it came out, and all the years since, but i finally decided to fill in a gap in my Coen brothers movie track, and now i'm sorry.  I blame all of you jerks.

Oh, by the way, since it seems that "watch it again another 10-40 times and you'll get it" is a really popular suggestion, i have two words for you: Stockholm syndrome.

Comments

[urbeatle.livejournal.com]

When the movie first came out, I didn't feel like seeing it. It sounded like it was a movie about potheads, and I wasn't all that interested. People kept telling me it was a great movie, for years, and I still had my doubts. I didn't pay much attention to who directed/wrote it, though, and when I later started to realize I liked Fargo and loved O Brother Where Art Thou?, and this was by the same people, I finally decided to give it a chance.

I found several parts, like the mysterious cowboy, nonessential. Some jokes seemed like kind of throwaway humor. I think the dream sequence where he's dancing should be cut. In short, I don't think it's as great a movie as people make it out to be. But I did like it, a bit. Like wisn, I think the key to the movie is that the story is about three buddies trying to make it to bowling league's semi-finals and beat Jesus, except two of them are kind of fighting with each and fighting for The Dude's attention, and The Dude has to be the peacemaker. The joke is that all the other stuff that seems like the "real" story, the noir stuff, isn't the story at all, it's the complication. Once The Dude's friend dies and he refocuses on what's important in his life, all that other stuff gets ignored.

I think they could have done a lot better job on this. It's clever, but sometimes it's too obviously clever and not controlled enough. But I understand what's going on and like the movie a little bit.

[also-huey.livejournal.com]

I found several parts, like the mysterious cowboy, nonessential.

During an interview with the Coens, they related that Sam Elliot came to them during the filming and asked "Why the fuck am I even in this movie?". They explained to him that he was the narrator of a movie that didn't need much narration, and besides, they thought he was cool.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

This is why people hate postmodernists.