Whatever man, that's like, just your opinion.

The real point of the story is that rug really tied the room together.

Ebert put it best: 'The Big Lebowski is about an attitude, not a story'. For me, the obscenely complicated plot is just a test for the Dude, to see if he really can 'Take it easy' when presented with the most head turning scenario. His victory is that, in the end, he is able to simply 'abide'. And I take comfort in that. Definitely in my top 20 favourite films.

I feel like the Coen Brothers movie philosophy is "We went nowhere, but we had fun getting there."

I think the best thing about The Great Lebowski is that it resembles to those conversations you have with your friends, telling weird and funny anecdotes and entangling one after another until you completely lose the track of the conversation, but you still feel like you're having the time of your life.

The Dude write a check for a half & half worth 67 cents. I was dying when he did that.

Is it a masterpiece? Fuck yeah it is.

The rug= the dude The room= the story

To anyone saying this is not a masterpiece, yeah well, you know, that's like, your opinion man...

The moral of The Big Lebowski is: Shit happens, live with it.

Maude does get pregnant. The stranger says "There's a little lebowski on the way."

It's more than a masterpiece. It's a moral compass, man.

There's an interesting irony in the movie in that the entire plot and subplots are meaningless, which is a nihilistic perspective, yet the nihilists are the "villains" of the movie.

It’s a tradition of mine to watch The Big Lebowski every Thanksgiving.

I'm ashamed to say I've never watched it. Gotta fix that.

5:27 Maude actually does get pregnant. The Stranger (Sam Elliott, who's the narrator) says there's a "little Lebowski" on the way at the end of the movie.

I really don't know whether or not it's a masterpiece but I do know that it's one of my favorite movies of all time. It really resonates with me for some reason. The comedy in it is exactly my style. The Dude is everything I want to be. The story is smart and passionate. I love almost every aspect of it.

I have watched The Big Lebowski on average about 2-3 times a month for the past 4 years. Now I have to admit I live my life allot like the dude. It's nothing to be proud of I just relate.

At least hear what he has to say before you blabbering about how it is or isn't just because you read the title.

"Is the Big Lebowski a masterpiece?" Did you really not know that the answer is yes?

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU F... FIND A STRANGER IN THE ALPS!!!!!!

It's a masterpiece when you realise that Tron Legacy makes sense if you consider Big Lebowski to be the same universe.

One of the best comedies ever made. A movie I can watch over and over again. brilliant. this movie changed my life and how I view it. just be like dude, be content with the small simple things and just abide man

The long conversations really tie the scenes together.

The most genius part about Big Lebowski is that dude and Walter figure out at the beginning that she kidnapped herself,and we laugh at them at how hilarious idea seems.In most noir movies everything is revealed at the end,here protagonists figure everything at beginning and at end we just get conformation that they were right,like you laughed at them for saying she kidnapped herself but they were right.So in a way dude and Walter are better detectives than noir guys with slick style and badass attitude.

The Dude is my number one role model. He's just enjoying life without hurting anybody, but he's not spineless or overly happy. I want to be like him, just maybe not writing 69 cent checks for milk...

The lesson learned in this film 1. The Dude Abides, take life as relaxed as you can, but take it head on. 2. Walter is a shell-shocked, Ass-Vet stuck in the past, but he means well ... 3. We need ppl like Donny 4. We need ppl like Dude 5. A Rug can truly tie a room together 5. Never trust a ransom kidnapper if they send you a toe. 6. And if u don't like this movie, well than I guess that's just your opinion man ...

What's amazing about the big lebowski is that I was extremely confused watching it my first time but it got funnier the more times it was rewatched. That's what makes it a masterpiece more viewing sessions makes it better

Here's my rule.. If the film says Cohen Brothers on it, it's probably a masterpiece

I think there was a certain glimmer of personal growth from The Dude in the end, even if it was very small. After all, you see him wearing a team uniform, his face/hair looks a little cleaned up, and for the first time in the movie he asks the bartender for soda rather than alcohol. Further, the narrator mentions there's "A Little Lebowski on the way."

I went into The Big Lebowski with very low expectations, but i really enjoyed it. The humor was right up my street.

The movie itself does a superb job of making the audience see the events of the story with the same outlook that the Dude has. As such, many things are inconsequential and lead to nothing because we are seeing the movie through the same lens that the Dude does. Though just because a movie perfectly syncs the audience with the main character does not necessarily make it a masterpiece or a good movie. It largely depends on what people might consider a masterpiece though it is hindered by many things that impede it from being as such. Mainly the overtly long sequences that although necessarily for representing the characters outlook do get tiring as they have to be leveled. All stories at least abide to a degree of sense and logic.

The Dude really ties the story together.

You know the dude didn't have to go to his landlords one person play, he did because he's a good dude. It probably meant a lot to his landlord tho

I remember my freshman year of high school, 1998. I got a copy of The Big Lebowski on VHS for like a dollar in the bargain bin...and my friends and I spent days of our lives watching it while tripping balls on the pink elephants going around at the time. We discovered a lot about ourselves in that time, and a lot about the world. Thanks Dude, and thank you Coen Bros. It was then and will always be my favorite film of all time. Purely for nostalgia. Just thinking about it makes my skin start to feel warm and while I haven't seen it in at least 6 years I could still recite it line for line from memory.

There is a RELIGION built around the Dude.

I've never seen the Big Lebowski

none of you are early this is a reupload

I like it when you try to figure out why something works, rather than focussing mostly on why something doesn't. More of this please :)

I believe both Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci would have appreciated this and declared this a masterpiece.

There just something about the way the characters all interact, even a normal scene in this movie is hella entertaining thanks to the great performances of Bridges, Goodman, and co.

dammit now i want a white russian

This has been one of my favorite videos from you guys. Besides this being on my list of films I love, you did a great job describing the plot (or lack thereof) and overall appreciation of its uniqueness to the cinematic world.

I am an Ordained Priest of The Church of The Latter-Day Dude,I agree completely with the life philosophy of The Dude and this movie is a masterpiece,the dialogues are incredible!

Personally I just love the characters. The Cohen’s are great at somehow giving one-scene random characters a lot of depth. This is a great film.. it can’t help the weirdo aspect of its fandom.

It's called "character comedy", Critic.

It is a masterpiece, albeit an unconventional one-- partly owing to its unique nod to discordianism. We're all together in this soup full of diverse goals, interests, circumstances, and points of view; and things might not always be as simple as they appear to be. The philosophy of the film is actually being given by the dude in his scene in the limo with the Big Lebowski, but it's just barely coherent enough that a lot of people will miss it. Every single plan set in motion by the diverse interests depicted by the various strange characters in the film gets thwarted by circumstances they could not have predicted, leading to an escalating complexity knotting them together which may or may not ever be resolved. There never was a kidnapping; the carpet-pissers did not organize the ransom; the dude never had the money; and a bizarre new third party is introduced to account for just about everything that happens to the dude. It's a set of events spinning out of control which could easily drive an ordinary person crazy. So sometimes, you just have to say, "Fuck it dude, let's go bowling." Bowling itself is a metaphor here too. If one could only manage to throw the ball identically and consistently, they could get a strike every single time. Without being heavy-handed, the film shows how this sort of chaos applies in several significant spheres of life-- religion, politics, law, sex, art. When you say that most of the scenes could have been cut, that's true in the sense of simply telling the story, but false in the sense of communicating the ethos of the film.

A masterpiece of comedy!!!! It was my favorite film when I was in high school and is still one of my top 5 today!

Of course its a masterpiece,its a fact.

the dude abides

The music in the background is the 90s Spider-Man show theme for when any time Mary Jane is on screen! Nailed it!

It absolutely is a masterpiece. It's a clinic in character development and cinematic dialogue. I've always thought of the plot as merely an arbitrary vehicle to put The Dude and Walter into some stressful situation for the sake of the resulting dialogue . I realized after about my 10th viewing that unlike any other movie that comes to mind, you don't even need to understand the plot of The Big Lebowski to really get the heart and soul of the movie which is the relationship between The Dude and Walter. I think a lot of people got too hung up on the ridiculously complicated plot and missed the real masterpiece which is the writing of the dialogue.

critic can please review cloudy with a chance of meatballs and the second one

Just a question. Why are you guys re-uploading some of your old videos?

as soon as the screen faded to black, i realized that i was happy i saw this movie, wonderful camera shots, devine soundtrack, lovely characters that will remain in you heart(holy shit, the introduction of quintana was one of the funniest i've ever saw) and you realize that this screenplay was written by people with balls

I watch this at least 3 times a year, it always cheers me up and puts things in perspective.

Nostalgia critic, you are out of your element. You have focused too much on Lebowski you did not even understand the plot. It did get resolved albeit in an unexpected way. Also, Maude did get pregnant. So the Dude's legacy goes on, according to the narrator with the cowboy hat. Watch the movie again. The tournament was not dropped, it kept going. The dude kept practicing for it till the very end. Actually the bowling tournament was the only constant in the movie. "It brought everything together". What makes the movie great is that almost all of the characters have a facade and eventually their real faces get exposed. Almost all of the characters in the movie, including the bad guys, were clueless and most didn't even realize it. Everyone was like Donny. They were like kids who jumped in in the middle of a movie and tried to chime in but ended up being useless. That, was the brilliant satire. You should understand by now why every single scene with Donny was indispensable, because the life of Donny was the main message.

The Dude returned as a strange bald guy wearing a yellow jumpsuit and white cape... and also became the strongest thing ever and is a hero for fun. ;D

This is definitely on my list of perfect movies. Right up there with Back to the Future, Princess Bride, Alien, Predator and Trading Places. You guys are awesome!! Keep it up dude.

I think what made this movie work a lot was the insanely good chemistry between John Goodman, Jeff Bridges and Steve Busceme. Three whole different people who had a good time together despite being crazy. Those conversations may have been long-winded and dumb but they were a lot of fun to listen to.

5:30 “...what happens with Maude and tryin to get pregnant?” The Stranger answers that question at the very end. Using his magical powers of narrative omniscience, he reveals that he “happens to know that there’s a little Lebowski on the way.”

actually he did get his rug back, he stole it from Mr. Lebowski

you made this movie make a lot more sense to me. i think i watched it when i was too young lol thanks for piecing it together for me

The background music is Mike Sunderland- Tender Affair. For some reason it's not on youtube.

Well Thats just like...your opinion Doug

The most important thing ever said in and about this movie was in the most random part of the movie... "There's no reason, here's my point..."

I understood Burn After Reading very well, and I enjoyed that movie so much- love the characters in it!

We all have some part of the dude in ourselves who no matter how difficult the situation is, tells us to take it easy.

I love the big lebowski and a proud devout dudeist

Definitely one of my favorite movies. It's more of a cinematic collage than anything. I aspire to be the Dude. God knows it's better to aim low and be content that things aren't worse than aim high, sacrifice yourself, maybe even accomplish a goal or two, and end up feeling hollow and as unfulfilled as you did in the first place. But of course the human condition affects most of us and our path to nirvana similarly to the plot in Office Space.

I don't think the film has hidden meanings so much as hidden depths. It's so rewatchable not just cause it's funny but the characters and scenes have way more to unpack than they seem to on first viewing. So many little details, like when you realize that you can see Donny's heart attack coming in the last bowling scene, or how The Jesus is the only character Walter doesn't lose his temper at because he's just too contemptuous to dignify with anger. I think it's a masterpiece in the way a painting is a masterpiece- you're drawn to the image and composition, but the closer you look at it the more you appreciate all the masterful brushstrokes and tiny details.

they throw around four letter words without reserve, but the film is hilariously funny- nobody but Jeff Bridges could ever complete this performance so well

The answer is yes. THE ANSWER IS YES.

Funny that this just got recommended for me. I'm just about to go bowling.

I think the reason why this movie works so well is the writing and the acting, the Coen's do a great job of sucking u in with their dialogue and the actors, especially in this movie just add to it.

i never saw this episode! thank you for reposting it :)

JESUS. That is all.

What is the background music?

And here I was, thinking that this movie was just a documentary about the life of Jeff Bridges

Still think this is probably my favourite movie ever

If you don't get The Big Lebowski the first time, watch it again. Still don't get it watch it again. After that if you don't absolutely love it, then you'll never get it. Its just not your kind of flick. Abide.

I need to watch this movie.

Burn After Reading is criminally underrated.

This film to me is like a voyeuristic look into someone else life more then a standard move in structure. The conversations shared with the characters, while odd, more accurately depict the conversational mannerisms we, the audience, would have with our friends, family, co workers etc.Something that gives this film a more genuine and authentic quality to me as well, sometimes things just happen in life without any proper resolution or climax. (i.e. life rarely plays out to the strict formula we've established for films) also proud to say i saw this film when it debuted in theaters and have watched it lovingly every years since at least once.

It's a masterpiece because its a movie about a rebel. I'm talking in the sociological term here as defined by Merton. There are two things according to sociologists that define a persons sense of accomplishment: what society wishes them to do, and how they do it. If you do what society wishes of you, and you do it they way they wish it you are a conformist. If you accept cultural goals, but but reject the means to achieve them you're an innovator. If you reject cultural goals but accept their means you're a ritualist, and if you reject both you're a retreatist. And most movies are about people who fit these sociological archetypes. But the Big Lebowski is about a rebel: Someone who sets their own goals and their own method to achieve them. It touches on a part of culture and individualism that is seen by many as taboo because people who embrace it are lazy, or have no ambition, or are selfish. But in fact they're usually the people who are most true to themselves, they live in almost a perpetual neverland where they have never "grown up" to accept cultural norms and methods. It introduces an entirely new hero/protagonist archetype into the film genre that was previously almost never done or never done well. It focuses less on structure and resolution and more on interaction and ambiguity, and in that way it feels more real than most movies. Because, as in life, many things are never resolved it feels genuine. Things happen around us all the time that we have no frame of reference for and are never established or resolved. It's a masterpiece because its commentary on the idiosyncrasies of daily life and the utter bizarre nature of the human condition. Of course it does that in a bombastic and over the top way, but in many ways the movie strikes a chord because of its penchant to display the mundane as bizarre, and the bizarre as mundane.

Did anyone else notice Flea from RHCP at 8:19?

We have screenings of this movie every 6 months or so. Not only does it kinda re-fuel our chill-tank - we discuss over it and there's always at least one more thing we notice. Be it a perspective we've never taken, a side story we've never paid much attention to, an interpretation, or just that no-one has ever noticed the bowling ball splintering the door frame before. Plus, it's funny. And it's one of the best movies to play drinking games to. Yeah. Maybe it's that.

Watched this in my teens with some buddies and we just loved this movie even back then. Constantly making reference to parts of the movie. I could go to his house right now and say something related to the movie and he'd instantly light up. This movie and The Blues Brothers had that same affect on us. Maybe something about the actors makes it....natural. Almost like it isn't a movie.

wtf why should it MEAN anything, it is just a great comedy around a dude

It doesn't mean anything, but it is definitely a masterpiece!

Does anyone remember the name of the episode where Doug talked about the briefcase in Pulp Fiction and the spinning top in Inception? I'm looking for it but can't find it

It's about the conversations after the film ends, long as people are talking about the film and what it means- then the film did its job, along with great dialogue.

For years I've been compared to The Dude, but I had never even seen the movie it until recently. I'm an ordained Dudeist Priest now.

Yes

There are actually two episodes of Friendship is Magic that has a reference to The Big Lebowski. I am not kidding!

you look like Les Claypool. This actually helped me a lot to understand one of my favourite movies

I actually think burn after reading is really underrated but I still find it very boring and doesn’t even compare to this masterpiece.

Short answer: Y E S

maybe, but it has been one of my favorite films for almost 20 years. I likened it in film class to a modern take on the private detective genre, where an unwitting loser has an adventure that any one of us would die to experience. I believe it is also a commentary on the social strata of LA, whether intentional or not.I think its genius comes not from what is said so much as the people and situations that are delivering said dialogue and that while they all appear to be extremes, maybe even bordering on caricatures, they display so many qualities so similar to real people that you instantly feel a connection to them. When I saw it was on VHS shortly after its release and I immediately bought a copy and exposed as many of my friends as I could to it.

It really brings the room together, man.