The Big Lebowski (1998)

All Critics (84) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (73) | Rotten (17) | DVD (38)

Adds up to considerably less than the sum of its often scintillating parts.

November 7, 2007 Full Review | Comments (27)

Todd McCarthy

Variety

Top Critic

The result is a lot of laughs and a feeling of awe toward the craftsmanship involved. I doubt that there'll be anything else like it the rest of this year.

April 27, 2007 Full Review

Andrew Sarris

New York Observer

Top Critic

Far from being shallow pastiche, it's actually about something: what it means to be a man, to be a friend, and to be a 'hero' for a particular time and place.

June 24, 2006 Full Review

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

Top Critic

A typical Coen brothers film is like no film you've ever seen.

April 25, 2003 Full Review

Rick Groen

Globe and Mail

Top Critic

As tempting as it is to completely dismiss The Big Lebowski, it's hard to do because the Coens are able to create wickedly funny eccentrics and possess the ability to energize certain actors to inhabit them completely.

February 14, 2001 Full Review | Comments (12)

Kenneth Turan

Los Angeles Times

Top Critic

The Big Lebowski is a mess. But what a glorious, wonderfully-entertaining mess it is.

January 1, 2000 Full Review

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Top Critic

Enormously entertaining!

August 4, 2012 Full Review

Betty Jo Tucker

ReelTalk Movie Reviews

...yet another in a long line of promising yet disappointing comedies from Joel and Ethan Coen...

February 20, 2012 Full Review | Comments (10)

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

One of the funniest, coolest, most absurd cult films ever made, and one of the best from the dynamic duo - Joel and Ethan Coen.

January 29, 2012 Full Review

R. L. Shaffer

IGN DVD

It's essential.

August 31, 2011 Full Review

Walter Chaw

Film Freak Central

It's the whole proud, embarrassing sociopolitical, cultural heap of American history-and the American Century in particular-in two fleet, funny hours. [Blu-ray]

August 22, 2011 Full Review

Peter Canavese

Groucho Reviews

The Coens concoct an absurdist Chandler-esque mystery, drop in a couple hilarious dream fantasies, and even bring in a drawling Sam Elliot to narrate this tall tale like a western myth.

August 21, 2011 Full Review

Sean Axmaker

MSN.com

There are few films that genuinely get better with each successive viewing. The Big Lebowski is one of them.

August 15, 2011 Full Review

Michael Nordine

Slant Magazine

[VIDEO] You'd never guess that the movie is loosely based on Raymond Chandler's detective novel "The Big Sleep."

July 23, 2011 Full Review

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

I'm not a fan of the Coen Brothers, but this is an entertaining enough diversion.

June 9, 2011 Full Review

Wesley Lovell

Cinema Sight

A wild ride for adults only.

December 18, 2010 Full Review

Heather Boerner

Common Sense Media

To what do we owe the pleasure of the Coen Brothers' new joie de vivre and love for their fellow man?

August 21, 2009 Full Review

Rob Nelson

City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

Stylish and wickedly funny black comedy illuminated by a great performance from Jeff Bridges, and loaded with all the Coen brothers' trademark wit and flair.

May 6, 2008 Full Review

Film4

As with Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski gives us a protagonist whose dopey innocence seems to be his only protection from the real world.

November 17, 2007

Beth Accomando

KPBS.org

If it's all supposed to be in fun, why does it feel so much like an insult?

November 7, 2007 Full Review | Comments (40)

Ken Fox

TV Guide's Movie Guide

Bridges does more with his deflated body language than many comedians can manage by chewing the furniture.

July 23, 2007 Full Review

Rob Gonsalves

eFilmCritic.com

If nothing else, the Dude speaks for me when appraises the music of the Eagles.

July 11, 2007 Full Review | Comments (4)

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

• 1. Walter Sobchak: Am I the only one who gives a shit about the rules?
  – Submitted by Tyler H (8 days ago)
• 1. Walter Sobchak: Am I wrong?
  2. The Dude: No.
  3. Walter Sobchak: Am I wrong?
  4. The Dude: No, you're not wrong Walter, you're just an asshole.
  5. Walter Sobchak: Okay then.
  – Submitted by Joe N (11 days ago)
• 1. Private Snoop: You see what happens Lebowski?
  2. The Dude: Nobody calls me :ebowski, you got the wrong guy, I'm the Dude, man.
  3. Private Snoop: Your name's Lebowski, Lebowski. Your wife is Bunny.
  4. The Dude: My wife? Bunny? Do you see a wedding ring on my finger? Does this place look like I'm fuckin married? The toilet seat's up man!
  – Submitted by Joe N (11 days ago)
• 1. The Dude: Yeah man. it really tied the room together.
  2. Donny: What tied the room together dude?
  3. The Dude: My rug.
  4. Walter Sobchak: Were you listening to the Dude's story, Donny?
  5. Donny: I was bowling.
  6. Walter Sobchak: So then you have no frame of reference here, Donny, You're like a child who wonders in the middle of movie.
  – Submitted by Joe N (11 days ago)
• 1. The Dude: She probably kidnapped herself.
  2. Donny: What do you mean dude?
  3. The Dude: Rug Peers did not do this. look at it. A young trophy wife, marries this guy for his money, she figures he hasn't given her enough, she owes money all over town,
  4. Walter Sobchak: That fuckin bitch.
  – Submitted by Joe N (33 days ago)
• 1. Walter Sobchak: Forget it, Donny, you're out of your element!
  – Submitted by Thomas B (34 days ago)