The Dude Abides
A comedy. A rather silly comedy with many not-so-obvious jokes — and I enjoyed it a lot. The Coens have built an entire universe out of a case of mistaken identity, a soiled rug, and a cast of characters so specific and peculiar they could only exist in this film. I wasn't even excited about watching it. I am glad I did.
What the Coens do brilliantly here is construct a plot that appears chaotic but is in fact meticulously assembled — all the accidents fall into place and create the story with a kind of comic inevitability. Each new complication arrives logically from the last, even when the logic is completely absurd. That architecture, hidden under the film's shaggy exterior, is where the real craft lives.
I am not a fan of the way dreaming is shown — those sequences feel like a different film briefly interrupting this one. But they are brief, and everything around them more than compensates.
John Goodman wins me with all his crazy ideas and opinions — most of all with the rational arguments that seem to support them.
The relationship between Walter (John Goodman), the Dude (Jeff Bridges), and Donny (Steve Buscemi) is classic comedy material — three men whose friendship should not work and absolutely does. Goodman in particular is a revelation: volcanic, absurd, completely committed to his own internal logic. The Dude is the film's warm, passive centre, and Buscemi's Donny exists almost entirely to be talked over. It is a perfect comic trio.
I honestly wasn't excited about this film going in, but I am glad to have watched it. Not sure if I need to see it again — maybe not. It still lands firmly in the category of a must-see.