I recently saw the 2014 Paul Thomas Anderson film Inherent Vice. It’s a film that generated a lot of buzz in 2014 and one aggregation ranked it number 10. I was immediately struck by how this film is begging to be analyzed side-by-side with The Big Lebowski. The two films have so much in common that it’s as if Paul Thomas Anderson and the Coen Brothers started from the same points in some sort of film workshop and worked outwards. For further reading, here’s an excellent essay:
Today, out of boredom, I decided that I would post if anyone else thought “The Big Lebowski was a good film but not worth this insane level of a cult following” and I got one positive and negative response, so I thought I’d address them both.
One person said that it was her son who didn’t get the hype, so that’s why it was written to her son.
I would say to your son almost no movie can live up to its hype on first viewing when the hype reaches a certain level. Ever heard of a movie called Citizen Kane? It has long been considered the greatest film in American history (I know the American Film Institute solidified that status in 1998). And since then, 90% of people who I know who’ve watched the film have been disappointed. So it’s best not to measure a film against hype.
I’d say the cleverness of the film isn’t apparent on first viewing, and it’s through outside sources (whether from other films, discussing with friends, or reading an essay about it) that someone might get all the meaning. The question is if he likes movie going to be a deep multi-layered experience or if he’s looking to be entertained for the two hours of the film.
That’s at least what TBL tries to be (and many people other than me say it succeeds). At the same time, some would argue that it’s very entertaining on a scene-to-scene level and that the characters are very original creations who intersect at interesting angles.
The Coen Brothers generally have a strong sense of place (O Brother Where Art Thou is a very interesting fusion of Dust Bowl era Mississippi with superficial biblical elements; I’ve hardly seen a better film that captures the inanity of the DC Bureaucracy and culture than Burn After Reading, A Serious Man has a lot to say about Jewish culture and academia and I’d argue it’s the most quintessential film ever made about the suburban Jewish experience), and that’s evident here is the film examines a confluence of values and a generational nostalgia that traces on the last remnants of Vietnam Era disillusionment. Beyond that, the Coen Brothers process in making their films is very scatological. I won’t say random, but they mix and match a lot of plot elements that most others wouldn’t think of, and for a good number of fans the mixing and matching is likely what connected here.
NOW THE REASONS THAT I DON’T THINK IT’S NOT ALL THAT AND A BAG OF CHIPS:
The film has certain thematic elements that I don’t think are fully formed. One of the big themes is that the Dude is treated as a deadbeat, but he’s really a more caring and responsible citizen than the other Lebowski who is respectable looking, but really corrupt. I can’t see any reason that the Dude isn’t a deadbeat.
The film is loosely based on a confusing noir, the 1946 film The Big Sleep (a much better film than this one), where a man gets implicated in an extremely complex case and decides to go out and find the truth. Here he doesn’t appear to have any agency. He just drifts towards the answers. Could he have just displayed an iota of brain activity? If the film is about a subversion of our expectations, I don’t know if the Dude ever became anyone other than what I expected him to be.
I also think the film has a number of interesting characters, but Walter is a bit too hard-edged for the comedic tone the film goes for and doesn’t appeal to me as much as other fans.
Some might also point out that it has an incredible cast, but I’m moving away from recommending films because they have a good cast. You can see these actors in better things and they’ll still act well.
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