A movie that defines what it means to attain 'cult' status. Every line, every actor, every tune, and every prop counts. The Coen brothers created another cult masterpiece, showing the essence of cinema: classic monologues, aesthetic cinematography, and mood-setting soundtrack; a detour from today's popular pair of CGI and violence with little substance.
The "Dude," Jeff Lebowski (Jeff Bridges), is the quintessential laid back, free spirit bachelor in L.A. devoted to recreation. He stares blindly at the similar brands of creamer on the lonely market aisle. He introduced me to white Russians and Creedence, the movie's motif. Just watching the movie, you feel buzzed. The Dude gets connived to deliver a ransom which disrupts his otherwise uneventful bowling and toker lifestyle. His friends get sucked in, whom are just as colorful: Walter (John Goodman), aplha male Vietnam vet solves everything with bowling strikes and loudness and Donny (Steve Buscemi), playing straight guy prompting along. Their exchanges involve excellent timing and memorable quotes: "That's like your opinion, man," among Dude's many Dudeisms; "Cut off your Johnson?" Uli the German nihilist kidnapper (Peter Stormare); "Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar eats you," the Stranger cowboy character actor (Sam Elliot); and Walter's many memes like "I don't roll on Shabaz!" I could go on and on about almost every single actor in the film. ...that's rare!
The cat and mouse sequence gets a bit convoluted, but is overshadowed by subsequent hilarious, legit urban parodies. "The Jesus" (John Turturro) makes love to his bowling ball, as a rival bowler, while making fake threats in his purple jumpsuit. The rich Jeffrey Lebowski (David Huddleston) is the snob with all the labels and talk, but ruled by his vanities. The final funeral scene is one I've walked into before: the perfect funeral house tilework and furniture, the rigid suited funeral rep speaking compassionately, concluding with the scary bottom line.
The Dude gets to dupe all of these icons of our beloved big cities. Yet, he is a "f___ing loser." A TOUCHDOWN in every sense!
.
No comments:
Post a Comment