The Big Lebowski - why is it popular?

[CT1138]

I always forget that some people have never known life before the internet, cellphones, social media and unlimited streaming.

I would say I grew up with the internet, in the sense that I was born before it became a household commodity, but have never actually known a time before it completely. To put a time frame on it, when I was young, interactive CD-ROM was the big thing, but Encyclopedias were still used. Ahhh, the '90s.

 

[Bigdaddy]

I always forget that some people have never known life before the internet, cellphones, social media and unlimited streaming.

I can be a sobering realization. Now I know how my mom felt when she tried to explain life without the existence of TV.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Just out of curiosity, have you liked any of the Coen brother's comedic films? O Brother Where Art Thou? Raising Arizona? They're all very quirky and filled with oddball characters. You either like them or you don't. There's no in between. Most people like to go through life thinking they're The Dude, when in fact, they're really Big Lebowski.

They've made other movies that are nothing like their comedies, though. Some really great crime films. Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, and No Country for Old Men.

Somehow I missed all of those. I will see O Brother Where Art Thou because my dad watched it and said it was good.

 

[russellsch]

The Big Lebowski was the first Coen brothers movie I liked on the first viewing. & every time I would watch it after (usually at friends or my sisters), I liked it more & more. Then, before long, I fell in love with it, & now it's one of my favorites.
I say watch it again, & see what you think. It is a cult classic. Which basically means, it really didn't become popular until well after it had come to the home movie market.

 

[The 48th Ronin]

The Big Lebowski was the first Coen brothers movie I liked on the first viewing. & every time I would watch it after (usually at friends or my sisters), I liked it more & more. Then, before long, I fell in love with it, & now it's one of my favorites.
I say watch it again, & see what you think. It is a cult classic. Which basically means, it really didn't become popular until well after it had come to the home movie market.

Kinda/sorta the same here. First time I saw it I thought it was pretty good (but not "great" necessarily), but the more I saw of it the more I picked up on some of the subtle little things, and I grew to like it more and more. It's now my favorite Coen brothers film.

Same thing happened for me with Napoleon Dynamite, though I had a much stronger reaction the first time I saw it - I thought it was the dumbest thing I had ever seen. But I started to catch bits and pieces of it here and there, and then I gave it another shot - once again, the more I saw it the more I grew to appreciate and enjoy it.

 

[patrickivan]

I always forget that some people have never known life before the internet, cellphones, social media and unlimited streaming.

It was a dark time.

But quieter. And I liked the anonymity of it. As well as not having 4.3 million accounts and passwords for every ******* thing in my life.

 

[eethan]

when I started seeing Coen brothers movie, I kind of hated it, it felt like always the same, starts with nothing, makes a very big deal of it, then ends up like nothing happens, every time. But then It started to grow on me and I like most of those that I saw now; I love the Big lebowski

 

[Usagi Pilgrim]

Lebowski had struck me like several other movies, some mentioned here, in a very particular way...

I saw them, appreciated them, but couldn't call them anything special. Then, over time, I found myself quoting them more & more, ultimately to the point where the quotes almost became part of my vocabulary with close friends.

It's been like that with films like Raising Arizona, Oh Brother, Napoleon Dynamite, & the greatest movie of my teen years, Say Anything.

"Lloyd Dobler.... alright."

 

[DARTH ANIBAL]

I always forget that some people have never known life before the internet, cellphones, social media and unlimited streaming.

I can be a sobering realization. Now I know how my mom felt when she tried to explain life without the existence of TV.

For all intents and purposes, some of these people are legally adults. That's the surreal part of it to me.

 

[CT1138]

Same thing happened for me with Napoleon Dynamite, though I had a much stronger reaction the first time I saw it - I thought it was the dumbest thing I had ever seen. But I started to catch bits and pieces of it here and there, and then I gave it another shot - once again, the more I saw it the more I grew to appreciate and enjoy it.

Another movie I watched once as a teenager, didn't like, and then never watched again. I still don't understand its cult classic following. Perhaps it's time to give it another chance.

 

[Zombie_61]

It was a dark time.

But quieter. And I liked the anonymity of it. As well as not having 4.3 million accounts and passwords for every ******* thing in my life.

Amen, Brother Patrickivan! Preach it loud!!! I'm not sure which is worse--trying to find something to watch on only seven channels on a black-and-white television as it was when I was growing up, or not being able to find anything worth watching on hundreds of cable/satellite channels. Don't get me started on needing a fracking password just to scratch your nose these days.

 

[ZeroSum]

I've always loved this movie from the first viewing. In fact, I knew I would love it when I saw the first trailer.

Let me tell you an old man story. Back in the late 90s, there was no Youtube to watch all the latest trailers. I read Ain't It Cool News and got my movie inormation from that. Either they would host trailers, or you could download them (at 56.6kbps) from the Apple Quicktime website. Anyway, I saw that trailer and it was great - but trailers sometimes make the movie look better than it is. When The Big Lebowski finally made its way to New Zealand, I was not disappointed.

Lebowski 4:20 - The Dude Abides.

 

[astroboy]

To me, it's amazing because of the genre bending. They took the unlikeliest of protagonists and put him in the centre of a film noir. A genre full of very serious people. It's a genre where the characters are so outrageous, that you aren't suppose to notice how incomprehensible the plot it.

It's a beautiful thing.

 

[Laspector]

Can't say that I've ever actually sat down and watched this movie. Seen bits and pieces of it over time.

 

[stussy]

Can't say that I've ever actually sat down and watched this movie. Seen bits and pieces of it over time.

give it a watch,tell us what you think.

 

[absinthetic]

Think of it more as a noir crime film instead of a "bowling comedy". It pulls TONS of tropes from the classic noir detective films of the 40s and 50s. If you have the time, watch Murder My Sweet (1944) and The Big Sleep (1946), then re-watch The Big Lebowski. I think it'll give you an extra layer of appreciation for it.

 

[ziddersroofurry]

Trying to explain why someone likes a movie when you don't get why someone like's that movie is like not enjoying banana cream pie and asking people to explain why their taste buds get hot every time they see one. Some people just really like banana cream pie and there's no particular reason other than they think it taste's amazing. That said as far as Big Lebowski goes some folks identify it with a certain time and place in their lives or maybe they see themselves in one of its characters. Maybe it's offbeat humor tickles their fancy in just the right way. Speaking for myself I've always enjoyed Jeff Bridges as well as comedies where rather than being straightforward the humor is derived from absurd situations. Think Monty Python or any film by Terry Gilliam. That and I love character pieces and Big Lebowski is ultimately a character piece. It's a more mature live-action cartoon-which is probably why it lends itself so well to being parodied by less-adult actual cartoons like My Little Pony:Friendship Is Magic:. This is from one of its episodes:

 

[batguy]

Watching 'Lebowski' for the first time today is not the same experience it was in the 1990s. Pop culture has reacted to it.

Also, it was always a hit-or-miss thing. Not everyone was thrilled by it even in the 90s.