The Big Lebowski

Cool movie. I’ve always heard this movie referenced but like other movies I haven’t seen that are also often referenced, I kind of just mentally redact anything that has to do with them. No more!

Immediately, I liked all the main characters and how they were presented: Dude, Walter, and Donny, a trio of random dudes in a bowling league. I don’t think we ever get to learn how they became friends or joined a team together, but they had great chemistry. I will say, whenever John Goodman’s character, Walter, is on screen, he kind, like… kills it every time. One of the lines that made me laugh so much was “Shut the fuck up, Donny! V.I. Lenin. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov!” Also, I learned that The Beatles had a song called “I am a Walrus.”

Julianne Moore as Maude kind of had me rolling my eyes at the rich feminist artist archetype but I was loving her in the end. Bunny was funny, raising all that hell.

For some reason, I thought this movie would end with the bowling league somehow having a final showdown with another antagonistic character who would put the prize money up for however much the Dude owed. But it had a much more meandering, strangely touching, and ultimately satisfying ending. Honestly, the entirety of this movie is just one single The Regular Show episode. But it’s instead a 2 hour movie with line after line of comedy and amazing, committed acting. Yay!