| | | From the Creators of Fargo.
Features: DVD, Widescreen, English, French, Dolby, Dolby Digital (5.1)
The Dude. One cool guy. Who one day comes home to find two thugs have broken in and ruined his favorite carpet -- the one that made the room "hang together." Thing is, they did it because he's got the same name as one of the richest men in town. Lebowski. But, hey, no problem. He'll get even. At least he'll get someone to pay for the carpet.
"...paved with delightfully irregular and unanticipated bits of business...while renewing our faith in the sheer joy of watching movies." Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
"It put a smile on my face that never left for 117 minutes." Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
"...uproariously hilarious in uniquely Coen fashion..." Wade Major, Box Office Magazine
"With their inspired, absurdist taste for weird, peculiar Americana...the Coens have defined and mastered their own bizarre subgenre." Desson Thomson, The Washington Post
"Brilliantly scripted and full of a virtual Who's Who of familiar faces...another golden hunk of totally unique celluloid from the versatile Brothers Cohen." Merle Bertrand, Film Threat
"The Coen Brothers score again!" NBC-TV
"...as visually inventive and wildly eccentric as the Coens' earlier movies..." Rita Kempley, The Washington Post
Editor's Note
The Coen brothers have done it again. Mixing in Leninist philosophy, mistaken identity, crazy characters, a kidnapping plot, and a deep love of bowling, they have unleashed upon an unsuspecting world the many glories of THE BIG LEBOWSKI. Jeff Bridges plays Jeff Lebowski, known as the Dude, a laid-back, easygoing burnout who happens to have the same name as a millionaire whose wife owes a lot of dangerous people a whole bunch of money--resulting in the Dude having his rug soiled, sending him spiraling into the Los Angeles underworld.The film is beautiful to look at, especially the scenes in the bowling alley, which feature a vast array of bizarre characters--including Steve Buscemi, John Turturro, Sam Elliott, and the movie-stealing, riotously funny John Goodman as the Dude's crazy best buddy. As usual in Coen brothers films (BARTON FINK, RAISING ARIZONA), the dialogue is hysterically warped; the plot is confusing, complicated, and kinetic; the soundtrack is virtually another character; and the acting is weirdly stellar. THE BIG LEBOWSKI is yet another thoroughly entertaining foray into the strange and fascinating world ruled by Joel and Ethan Coen.
Plot Summary
When hired goons mistake oafish, amiable bowling enthusiast Jeff "the Dude" Lebowski for their proper shakedown, eccentric millionaire the Big Lebowski, their error sets into motion a wacky chain of events that pull the Dude into a hilariously twisted mystery. The film is a high-key, fanciful farce with the same runaway-train comic sensibility as the Coens' RAISING ARIZONA--and a surreal musical number to boot.
| Features | Photographs By Jeff Bridges: Images From The Set Of The Film | | Special Introduction: Featuring Mortimer Young, A Practitioner Of "Non-Uptight" Film Preservation. His Restoration Of The Famous "Toe Scene," Presented Here, Will Blow Your Mind | | Audio: English, French Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 Surround Sound | | Dubbed: French | | Featurette: The Making-Of The Big Lebowski - Including Interviews With The Coen Brothers | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French | | This Is An HD-DVD Made For HD-DVD Format Players Which Produce Higher Quality Picture & Sound |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Universal |
| Release Date: 6/26/2007 |
| Running Time: 118 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1998 | | Catalog ID: 61032904 | | UPC: 00025193290427 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English, French Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: English, French | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Memorable Quotes| "Nobody calls me Lebowski. You got the wrong guy. I'm the Dude, man."----The Dude (Jeff Bridges) to Treehorn's thug | | "That rug really tied the room together, did it not?"----Walter (John Goodman) |"Freakin' a..."----The Dude | | "I don't roll on Shabbos!"----Walter to Donny (Steve Buscemi), upon realizing he's scheduled to bowl on the Jewish Sabbath | | "All the Dude ever wanted was his rug back."----The Dude to Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara) | | "You're entering a world of pain."----Walter to a child | | "Are these the Nazis, Walter?"----Donny |"No, Donny, these men are Nihilists. Nothing to be afraid of."----Walter | | "The Dude abides. I don't know about you, but I take comfort in that."----The Stranger (Sam Elliott) |
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| | Professional Reviews | Rolling Stone
"...Smart and silly....A burst of wicked fun..." 03/19/1 p.71-2Sight and Sound
"...The range of acting turns is rich....Best of all, in a memorably unctuous cameo, is Philip Seymour Hoffman...the best character-actor find in years..." 05/01/1998 p.38-42 USA Today
"...The Coen brothers, those far-out FARGO guys, cover everything with eye-popping panache..." 3 1/2 out of 4 Stars 04/03/1998 p.5E New York Times
"...Mr. Bridges finds a role so fit for him that he seems never to have been anywhere else. Watch this performance to see shambling executed with nonchalant grace and a seemingly out-to-lunch character played with fine comic flair..." 03/06/1998 p.E31 Premiere
"...Joel and Ethan Coen have crafted another shrewdly ironic valentine to Americana with this hilarious tale..." 03/01/1998 p.17 Los Angeles Times
"...The Coens are able to create wickedly funny eccentrics and possess the ability to energize certain actors to inhabit them completely..." 03/06/1998 p.C1 Chicago Sun-Times
"...Genial....It's weirdly engaging, like its hero..." 03/06/1998 p.37 Entertainment Weekly
"...A masterpiece of anti-storytelling..." 05/23/2003 p.35 Rolling Stone
Ranked #7 in Rolling Stone's "Top 25 DVDs Of 2005' -- "[T]he prize in this Coen Brothers 1998 goodie is still Jeff Bridges..." 12/01/2005 p.92 Uncut
5 stars out of 5 -- "LEBOWSKI sees the Coens embark on a delirious joyride through the great Sin City itself, executing some audacious hair-pin turns through the conventions of noir along the way." 05/01/2006 p.148 Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "[W]hat makes the Coens' seventh film so inexhaustibly re-watchable is its oddball range of characters so gonzo, so heroically grotesque as to be the stuff of the greatest stoner-comic book never written." 06/01/2006 p.132 ReelViews 8 of 10
In a word, The Big Lebowski is a mess. But what a glorious, wonderfully-entertaining mess it is. This film, the Coen Brothers' follow-up to the critically-lauded Fargo, isn't likely to generate the same degree of universal praise. In fact, those expecting something along similar lines to the 1997 Oscar nominee may be disappointed. The Big Lebowski is an off-the-wall comedy that has more in common with Raising Arizona than with Fargo. Its single weakness, and what amounts to little more than a minor distraction, is that it doesn't have much of a plot, and what there is contains the kind of gaping holes that even the most obtuse viewer can identify...Once again, the Coens have chosen their cast well. With long hair, a beard, sunglasses, and a vapid expression, Jeff Bridges is perfect as the perpetually-stoned Dude...Problems with the plot notwithstanding, The Big Lebowski ranks as one of the most audacious comedies of recent years. The Coens keep the jokes coming, although some of them are so subtle they can easily be missed (for example, when The Dude writes a check for 69 cents). Profane, outrageous, and without inhibitions, The Big Lebowski further cements the Coens' reputation as independent film makers. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
The Coen brothers' ``The Big Lebowski'' is a genial, shambling comedy about a human train wreck, and should come with a warning like the one Mark Twain attached to ``Huckleberry Finn'': ``Persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.'' It's about a man named Jeff Lebowski, who calls himself the Dude, and is described by the narrator as ``the laziest man in Los Angeles County.'' He lives only to go bowling, but is mistaken for a millionaire named the Big Lebowski, with dire consequences...This is the first movie by Joel and Ethan Coen since ``Fargo.'' Few movies could equal that one, and this one doesn't--but it's weirdly engaging, like its hero...In spirit, ``The Big Lebowski'' resembles the Coens' ``Raising Arizona,'' with its large cast of peculiar characters and its strangely wonderful dialogue. Here, in a film set at the time of the Gulf War, are characters whose speech was shaped by earlier times: Vietnam (Walter), the flower power era (the Dude) and ``Twilight Zone'' (Donny). Their very notion of reality may be shaped by the limited ways they have to describe it. One of the pleasures of ``Fargo'' was the way the Coens listened carefully to how their characters spoke. Here, too, note that when the In & Out Burger shop is suggested for a rendezvous, the Dude supplies its address: That's the sort of precise information he would possess. - Roger Ebert
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