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I love this movie. Ahhh... I have seen it three times at the time of setting down this review. About three times. Sort of. The first time I 'saw' it was on a roomie's iMac from across the room after having been hotboxed hardcore by a group of about 10 people. Whew. Then I rented it and loved it but I don't really remember what I thought of it. But the most important time was last night -- Midnight Movie at the local theater.

This was the second Midnight Movie I've been to at the Nick though I hope to go to many more in the future. The first I went to was The Princess Bride back in January with some housemates. This time I was in Westside renting movies and I saw the sign for The Big Lebowski and I was like 'Oh my GOD, that's TONIGHT' cuz it was about 8pm and Matt, the dude who has me on like speed-dial there, he said he was at it the night before and that it was great. Well I turned to Cait and asked if she was up for it and she was (though she'd never seen it before -- !!) so we went and bought our tickets first (good thing too cuz they sold out at least an hour before the show). Then we went for ice cream and watched 'How To Irritate People' and finally went on over to the theater.

But long story short, the film rocks my socks off. It's a Coen Brothers film so if you've seen Fargo or O Brother Where Art Thou or one of their older films then you have a fair idea of what kind of film they make. And The Big Lebowski is no exception. Though I must say that I find this to be the most enjoyable of all their films that I've seen (with O Brother running a close 2nd). The film follows the story of The Dude (Jeff Bridges) and his quest to acquire compensation for his wrongfully peed-on rug with the help of his bowling buddies Walter (John Goodman) and Donny (Steve Buscemi).

The characters are really what make this film work so very well. For instance, John Turturro's character, Jesus, is completely unnecessary to the plot but I cannot imagine the film without him. He adds to the atmosphere and the endearing lunacy of the world of the film. Phil appears as Brandt, the simpering bitch of the Big Lebowski of the title. He only appears for what I would approximate generously at ten minutes. However, he brings all the Phil-y goodness possible into that time. Must I mention that when he appeared for the first time I was applauding like a madman?? ahahaha... Go to midnight screenings. They're great fun.

Phil's best bit, in my opinion, is when he does that enormous cheesey smile and says 'That's marvelous'. Ahhh. But this film is definately worth seeing for all the superb performances (I can't say that I've ever enjoyed John Goodman more than in this film) and the inane story... and the dream sequence. This is an excellent film.