Looking for the Point: How The Coen Brothers Made the Unremarkable Remarkable - The Big Lebowski Analysis
Let me be clear before I start by saying that I am in no way saying that the Coen Brothers’ 1998 classic The Big Lebowski is unremarkable in any way. Many people believe it to be one of the funniest movies of all time, and to some, it’s simply one of the best (I’m in both groups). The characters are brilliant, the dialogue is as witty as can be, and the plot ends up being one of the most creative takes on the private investigator noir genre we’ve ever seen. What I mean is that the Coen Brothers took a series of average individuals, threw them in a series of extraordinary scenarios, and used this juxtaposition to showcase a world where anybody can have a truer purpose - even burnout bowler Jeff Lebowski. What makes the Coen Brothers’ script so impressive is their ability to constantly undermine society’s (and therefore the audience’s) predetermined impressions of their characters, and the result is a ridiculously clever satire that makes the audience think twice about what matters in life.
OPENING IMAGE
The film opens with a close up of a desert floor. Tumbleweeds roll by, sand blowing in the wind. A mysterious cowboy voice begins narrating our story: “Way, out west there was this fella…” Most people watching this film for the first time would have the same first reaction: “is this movie a Western?”. However, the camera tilts up, revealing a modern Los Angeles skyline. Already, the Coens are toying with our expectations.
SET UP
As the narrator introduces our protagonist Jeff Lebowski (AKA The Dude) as being one of the laziest people in Los Angeles (and therefore world), the film cuts to a shot of him shopping at Ralph’s, wearing a bathrobe and slippers as he shops for milk (which he has to pay for by writing a check for 69 cents).
The Dude is obviously not going to be the hero anyone expected, and this isn’t going to be the kind of movie anyone expected. The audience knows already that they’re going to have to put up with low amounts of effort from these characters, and that’s what makes the plot so much more interesting. Hell, even the narrator forgets what he’s talking about halfway through his introduction. Much like the tumbleweed drifting through LA during the opening montage, these characters are simply going to be along for the ride. And the audience is going to have to hop on whether they like it or not.
INCITING INCIDENT
The film doesn’t take long to get to our inciting incident. Immediately after The Dude finishes up his grocery run, he returns to a run-down apartment to find two thugs waiting for him inside. They attack The Dude and drag him into the bathroom, where they proceed to violently dunk his head in the toilet as they scream at him to reveal where “the money” is.
This is just another reason why this script is so amazing. Even though we just met The Dude moments ago, anyone watching already knows there’s been a mistake. He clearly doesn’t have any money, he definitely isn’t married, and he more-than-likely doesn’t have the ambition to think up any sort of money-grabbing scheme.
But the genius part is, none of this is even the inciting incident. The Dude doesn’t plot revenge on the people who broke into his house. He doesn’t go on some elaborate journey to clear his name from this case of mistaken identity. No, the inciting incident is something much smaller, much pettier: when one of the thugs decides to urinate on The Dude’s favorite rug…
That’s the whole catalyst. Some guy pissed on The Dude’s rug, and now he’s got a problem. The reminder of all the events to come, no matter how intricate or off-the-wall they may be, are all the result of a single acting goal for The Dude: to simply get a new rug.
DEBATE
The next day, The Dude discusses the events that transpired over a game of bowling with his friends Donny and Walter - two other slackers whose primary motivation is to win the upcoming league tournament. Less worried about being attacked in the middle of the night, The Dude still just can’t get over the fact that he lost his favorite rug. Walter, an overly aggressive Veteran still stuck in Vietnam, brings up a very interesting point of who to blame: not the thugs, but rather the millionaire Jeff Lebowski who the thugs were looking for in the first place.
While the peeing on the rug was certainly the catalyst, the decision to approach the real Jeff Lebowski for reimbursement is what sets the rest of the film’s events in motion. The Dude, not having anything better to do with his time other than bowl, abides by Walter’s advice and makes his way to Jeff Lebowski’s mansion.
Now, back to my main point of predetermined impressions, the entire script is filled with people who seem like they have life figured out and people who seem like they don’t have life figured out. At the mansion, The Dude meets his name counterpart, the millionaire Lebowski. He’s everything The Dude isn’t: rich, old, goal oriented, and far from easygoing. On top of that, he’s paralyzed from the waist down. Jeff Lebowski immediately starts chastising The Dude for being a lazy bum and wanting handouts (in this case, in the form of a new rug). Yet, it’s clear he surrounds himself with that exact type of people: a butler who waits on his every command, a drunken Nihilist friend of his wife who abuses his pool, and the wife herself, Bunny, who lives off an allowance and is the reason The Dude got tied up in this whole mess in the first place.
Unsatisfied with Lebowski’s response to his request for a new rug, The Dude steals one on his way out and goes back to bowling with his buddies. Seemingly, his problem is solved and the film’s conflict is over. But the next day, he gets a mysterious phone call from Lebowski’s butler: Bunny’s been kidnapped and being held for ransom…and they want The Dude to deliver the money.
BREAK INTO TWO
With that offer on the table, The Dude is conflicted. On one hand, he doesn’t really have the desire to get involved with this mess anymore than he already has. On the other hand, completing the task would fill two major gaps in his easygoing life: 1) a lack of funds, which would be solved by Lebowski's large cash offer to deliver the ransom, and 2) an underlying sense of purpose, which saving a human life would surely give him.
FUN AND GAMES
Unlike the relaxed nature of Act 1, Act 2 is almost entirely filled with action, hijinks, and even more hilarious misdirection. It begins with The Dude relaxing on top of his brand new stolen rug and listening to old bowling tapes (his form of meditating before he has to make the handoff). He opens his eyes to find an unknown redhead woman and two new thugs standing before him. Before he can say anything, they punch his lights out, sending us into a magical dream sequence where The Dude rides his rug over the city of Los Angeles.
He wakes up back on his floor, realizing they had stolen his newly acquired rug. With enough problems on his mind and a finite amount of energy to spend, The Dude simply disregards whatever the hell just happened and focuses on the ransom drop. Having been given a million dollars in a briefcase to give to the assailants, The Dude and Walter proceed to the handoff. The only problem is Walter has some tricks in mind. Believing whole-heartedly that Bunny “kidnapped” herself for some extra spending cash, Walter came up with the brilliant idea to replace the million dollars with a ringer so that they can escape with all the money.
The plan naturally goes haywire when Walter throws out the ringer, rolls out of the moving vehicle with an Uzi, and The Dude crashes his car. Now the assailants don’t have any money, The Dude’s car is partially wrecked, and Bunny might die as a result. Despite all this, Walter isn’t worried.
Back at the bowling alley, The Dude’s phone is ringing off the hook - likely Jeff Lebowski wondering why the handoff went wrong. He’s worried sick, but Walter assures him that Bunny’s fine and to look on the bright side: he still has a briefcase with a million dollars in his car. But, of course, they exit the bowling alley to find that his car had been stolen.
While reporting his stolen car to the police, an entirely new conflict is thrust upon The Dude. He receives a call from the redheaded woman who stole his rug, revealed to be Maude Lebowski, Jeff’s eccentric daughter. She shows The Dude a pornographic film starring Bunny and her Nihilist friend, explaining that he and his other Nihilist friends were likely the ones who thought up the whole “ransom” scheme. Apparently Maude’s father had embezzled money from a family charity to pay the ransom, and Maude wants it back. If The Dude can somehow reclaim the million dollars, she’s willing to give him $100,000 in return.
Now almost certain that Bunny faked her kidnapping, The Dude is on the case to retrieve the stolen money. That is until Jeff Lebowski and his butler reveal that they had been sent a new message from the kidnappers: one of Bunny’s pinky toes. The threat now seems very real, and it’s too late for The Dude to get out now.
MIDPOINT
The midpoint of the story has The Dude caught up in a classic convoluted tale of corruption and greed, likely more than anything he’s ever seen before. Having just breezed through most of his life, he’s not sure what to think at this moment that requires extreme precision and critical thinking on his part. Maude thinks the Nihilists are to blame, Walter still thinks Bunny kidnapped herself, and Jeff Lebowski’s threatening to kill The Dude if anything else happens to Bunny. There’s a lot of weight on his shoulders, and the only way to return to his comfortable way of life is to pull everything together and somehow find the money.
BAD TO WORSE
Of course things only get worse for the undeserving Dude. First, the LAPD calls him to alert him that his car had been recovered - except the briefcase is nowhere to be found. Now he has an entirely new objective of tracking down the car thief. On top of that, the Nihilists have begun threatening The Dude directly, breaking into his apartment during a bath and siccing their pet weasel on him.
He’s being hit from all angles, and nobody’s there to offer any real help.
After a hilariously failed attempt to retrieve the money from a potential car thief suspect, The Dude is once again visited by the original thugs (the ones who pissed on his carpet). They drag him to infamous porn director Jackie Treehorn’s mansion where Jackie reveals that Bunny ran away because she owed him money. Once again, The Dude is offered a reward for solving the case. However, this ended up being a negotiation tactic, as Jackie ends the conversation by drugging The Dude and throwing him out of his home.
The Dude finally comes home to find that Maude had broken into his apartment with the intent of sleeping with him, which the Dude abides by without second guessing. Yet again, he was getting manipulated by the powers that be, as Maude did this with the goal of being impregnated (which goes against everything The Dude believes in).
One useful piece of information was revealed during this interaction, however: Maude’s father, Jeff Lebowski, isn't even rich.
BREAK INTO THREE
Despite everything constantly collapsing around him, the revelation about Jeff Lebowski’s net worth leads to The Dude making a major breakthrough in the case:
Bunny ran away herself, Jeff Lebowski wanted the kidnappers to kill her, and all other conflicts that arose were simply the result of Bunny’s associates capitalizing on her sudden disappearance. Greed, greed, greed, and more greed.
FINALE
With the knowledge that Bunny’s perfectly fine, The Dude and Walter confront Jeff Lebowski, who has nothing to offer them. Like many times before, they simply say “fuck it” and go bowling with Donny. Thinking their troubles are behind them, the trio exits the bowling alley to find that the Nihilists have lit The Dude’s car on fire, requesting retribution for all of their troubles.
A fight ensues, the Nihilists go running, but Donny regrettably has a heart attack from the stress and passes away in the parking lot. Walter and The Dude, heartbroken, cremate his body and sprinkle the ashes on the beach. Carless, exhausted, still broke, and grieving the loss of their dear friend, there’s nothing left for them to do but go bowling.
CLOSING IMAGE
Near the end of the film, The Dude and the narrator finally meet at the bowling alley bar where they share a few simple, but meaningful words with each other.
Despite everything that’s happened to The Dude these past few days, he’s still got the same easygoing attitude. His final lines here sum up everything about his personality, and as a result, sum up everything the Coen Brothers want you to take away from this film. In life, bad things happen, but you just have to keep rolling on. Just because you hit a few gutter balls doesn’t mean you should quit bowling. The strike is sure to come.
And the directors wanted to emphasize this message through the final shot of the film, which shows an unnamed man, with a beer at his side, rolling a ball down a lane.
They could have closed on the Narrator, Walter, or even The Dude, but I think they chose this random individual for a reason: this ethos applies to everyone, not just the characters of the story. Also, note the question mark at the end of the final action line. They very obviously weren’t sure whether to end on a positive, negative, or vague note when writing this script. But if you watch the final cut, they very clearly show him hitting a strike. Perhaps they realized they needed to end this tale with some optimism after all.
WHY IT’S EXCELLENT
Like I mentioned earlier, this script is almost universally praised for its clever take on the noir genre and the witty jokes sprinkled throughout, but my point remains that it’s brilliant for highlighting that everything the audience assumes about the characters due to societal preconceptions is eventually proven false. In fact, almost everything about the story was a farce. The wealthy, egocentric millionaire is revealed to be a fraud who never cared about his wife in this first place. Maude, initially depicted as an interesting feminist artist, is really just a rich kid playing with her parent’s money who wants nothing more than to be a mother. Bunny was never kidnapped, the briefcase never had any money in it, and the Nihilists never even had anyone to hold ransom. Meanwhile, the “loser” characters of Walter, Donny, and The Dude are revealed to be the most caring, life-loving people in the script. Walter, while extreme at times, is the most honest character in the story (to a fault). Donny, sensitive in nature, never even mumbles a negative thing about anybody. And The Dude, assumed to be one of the laziest men in the world, never stops working to try to solve everybody else’s problems. This theme is further emphasized by their constant feud with the Nihilists throughout the story, who truly care about nothing. It’s not that The Dude, Walter, and Donny have no ambitions, it’s just that their ambitions don’t align with materialistic things like trophy partners, money, and career-centered success. They care about each other, having a good time, and simply getting through life with a smile on their face.
