The Big Lebowski Reviews
Top CriticAdds up to considerably less than the sum of its often scintillating parts.
The Dude and Sobchak begin as caricatures too, but they're allowed to grow into something deeper, if only because the humanist economy of the Coens' surrealist vaudeville allows for a couple of human beings within the tapestry of freaks.
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| Original Score: 2/4
Filmcritic.com
I wish the Coens the best, but they're going to have to do better than this. I know they can.
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| Original Score: 3/5
Nick's Flick Picks
This broad farce about mistaken identities would have worked much better if the filmmakers hadn't mistaken their own.
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| Original Score: C
Reel Film Reviews
...yet another in a long line of promising yet disappointing comedies from Joel and Ethan Coen...
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| Original Score: 2/4
Boulder Weekly
An indulgent spoof, Big Lebowski isn't a straight gutter ball, but it's no strike, either.
Palo Alto Weekly
The Coen Brothers throw this film into the gutter, never developing what could have been a Strictly Ballroom-like spoof of the bowling world.
| Original Score: 2.5/4
Needcoffee.com
This movie seems to me almost a mishmash of the worst bits that were left out of previous Coen Brothers outings.
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| Original Score: 0/5
Cinematter
This time, they have all the parts together, but someone forgot the glue.
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| Original Score: 2/4
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
This uneven screwball comedy -- a disjointed and half-hearted attempt by the Coen brothers to return to the Raising Arizona style -- is bound to underwhelm even their most fervent admirers.
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| Original Score: 2/4
Film Journal International
Since The Big Lebowski doesn't have an idea in its head, it has to fill the empty space with 'witty' conceits
There are more ideas here, more wacko side characters and plot curlicues than the film can support, and inevitably it deflates from having to shoulder so much.
San Francisco Examiner
There are bits of brilliance here as in all Coen Brothers movies. Just not enough of them.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1/4
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.
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| Original Score: 2.5/5
TV Guide's Movie Guide
If it's all supposed to be in fun, why does it feel so much like an insult?
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| Original Score: 1.5/4
Bullz-Eye.com
The Big Lebowski may have a reputation for being the late night movie of choice for some burnouts, but it's much more than your average stoner film.
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| Original Score: 4/5
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
... a loving study of Los Angeles loserdom.
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| Original Score: A
