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Partners
Big Lebowski, TheFargo was always going to be a hard act to follow, but the Coen brothers succeeded with this off-the-wall bowling comedy-turned-kidnap-thriller.
Jeff 'The Dude' Lebowski (Jeff Bridges), an LA bum who lives for bowling, knows it's going to be a bad day when two hoods break in demanding money owed by his wife, ("Does this place look like I'm fucking married? The toilet seat's up, man!"), rough him up and piss on his rug ("That rug really tied the room together").
The Dude has been mixed up with Jeff 'The Big Lebowski' Lebowski (David Huddleston) and goes to the millionaire's house seeking compensation for his ruined rug. Instead, The Dude learns that his namesake's wife Bunny (Tara Reid) has been kidnapped and he ends up being asked to be bagman for the ransom.
From then things go down hill, as The Dude meets The Big Lebowski's daughter from his first marriage, Maude (Julianne Moore), who paints using her naked body, and encounters a nihilist German techno-rock group who were involved in the kidnap.
Supporting The Dude are damaged 'Nam vet and late convert to Judaism Walter (John Goodman), who lives in a present constructed around his experiences in Vietnam, and Donny (Steve Buscemi) who lives in a present constructed around mental vacuity. Then there's the bowling league to worry about, where The Dude's due to play Jesus Quintana (John Turturro), a paedophile in a lilac jumpsuit.
With some frighteningly weird stuff going on, from lavish dream sequences to Moore naked on a trapeze, this is bizarre but brilliant Coen territory. There is terrific support from Goodman, while Buscemi is cast brilliantly against type as their silent friend. As for Turturro, he positively heists the movie.
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