Enter a Rotten Tomatoes movie slug to inspect the stored movie, batches, snapshots, and reviews.
Movie ID: 800
RT slug: the_big_lebowski
RT URL: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_big_lebowski
Release year: 1998
Runtime: 117 mins
Wide release date: 1998-03-06
Limited release date: —
Festival premiere date: —
Streaming release date: 2015-12-01
Tomatometer final: 79%
Audience score final: —
Genres: Comedy
Directors: Joel Coen
Writers: —
Producers: —
MPAA rating: R
Executive Producers: —
Created: 2026-06-17 18:59:51
Updated: 2026-06-17 18:59:51
Jeff Bridges plays Jeff Lebowski who insists on being called "the Dude," a laid-back, easygoing burnout who happens to have the same name as a millionaire whose wife owes a lot of dangerous people a bunch of money -- resulting in the Dude having his rug soiled, sending him spiraling into the Los Angeles underworld.
The Big Lebowski's shaggy dog story won't satisfy everybody, but those who abide will be treated to a rambling succession of comic delights, with Jeff Bridges' laconic performance really tying the movie together.
Canonical reviews: 190
Canonical fresh: 151
Canonical rotten: 39
Canonical calculated Tomatometer: 79%
Latest snapshot UTC: 2026-06-17 17:07:47
Snapshot Tomatometer: 79%
Snapshot review count: 190
Snapshot fresh count: 151
Snapshot rotten count: 39
Source note: Imported from manual review paste batch #1429 (full_snapshot)
| Company | Role |
|---|---|
| Gramercy Pictures | distributor |
| PolyGram Filmed Entertainment | production |
| Billing | Name | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeff Bridges | Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski |
| 2 | John Goodman | Walter Sobchak |
| 3 | Julianne Moore | Maude Lebowski |
| 4 | Steve Buscemi | Donny |
| 5 | Peter Stormare | Nihilist (Ulee Kunkel) |
| Batch ID | Status | Mode | Created | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 816 | processed | — | 2026-06-17 18:59:51 | Processed successfully into movie_id=800 using update_mode=merge_non_empty. |
| Batch ID | Local Snapshot | UTC Snapshot | Entered % | Entered Count | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1429 | 2026-06-17 12:07:00 (America/Panama) | 2026-06-17 17:07:47 | 79% | 190 | processed | Mode=full_snapshot. Processed 190 row(s); 0 row error(s). Parsed unique reviews in this batch=190, fresh=151, rotten=39, tomatometer=79%. Net new reviews added=190, fresh=151, rotten=39. Current canonical totals=190 reviews, 151 fresh, 39 rotten, tomatometer=79% (79.474%). Entered review count matched parsed batch count (190). Entered tomatometer matched parsed batch value (79%). |
| ID | Critic | Outlet | Fresh? | Score | RT Time Raw | Approx Published UTC | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 178615 | Jonathan Romney | Sight & Sound | Fresh | — | 2023-06-08T17:15:22Z | 2023-06-08 17:15:22 | The Big Lebowski is at once utterly inconsequential and a blow for a cinematic slacker aesthetic. |
| 178616 | Mark Jackson | Epoch Times | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-04-21T01:19:55Z | 2023-04-21 01:19:55 | Bridge's thespian mastery, via the slacker zeitgeist of our time, converts The Dude's funniest lines into a readily-understood language of everyday desperation. This ultimately begat the religion of Dudeism. Which makes 'Lebowski' an important movie. |
| 178617 | Adam Kempenaar | Filmspotting | Fresh | 5/5 | 2023-03-23T22:37:22Z | 2023-03-23 22:37:22 | 25 years later, the movie where every detail matters and doesn’t matter at all, is as hilarious as ever – and more poignant, man. |
| 178618 | Stephen Silver | Tilt Magazine | Fresh | 5/5 | 2023-03-19T02:40:04Z | 2023-03-19 02:40:04 | The Coen Brothers introduced the world to The Dude, Jesus, Walter, Maude, and a fantasia of burnt-out ex-hippie in a Raymond Chandler plot. (25th anniversary) |
| 178619 | Noah Gittell | Washington City Paper | Fresh | — | 2023-03-10T23:53:00Z | 2023-03-10 23:53:00 | The Dude becomes an aspirational figure, chill in the face of increasing absurdity, and ever able to express himself in perfectly quotable ways. |
| 178620 | Desson Thomson | Washington Post | Fresh | — | 2023-01-24T18:41:10Z | 2023-01-24 18:41:10 | With their inspired, absurdist taste for weird, peculiar Americana, the Coens have defined and mastered their own bizarre subgenre. No one does it like them and, it almost goes without saying, no one does it better. |
| 178621 | Joanna Connors | Cleveland Plain Dealer | Fresh | — | 2023-01-24T18:39:30Z | 2023-01-24 18:39:30 | Leave it to Joel and Ethan Coen to wake up a drowsy movie genre with a bucket of ice water, a giant alarm clock and a fistful of No-Doz. The Big Lebowski... injects a mammoth syringe of adrenaline lunacy directly into the overdosed heart of film noir. |
| 178622 | Jeff Simon | Buffalo News | Fresh | 3.5/4 | 2023-01-24T18:36:56Z | 2023-01-24 18:36:56 | In American movies, the Coens are the reigning eccentric poets of the loser class. Who else could get away with quoting Theodore Herzl in a bowling alley? |
| 178623 | Peter Travers | Rolling Stone | Fresh | — | 2023-01-24T18:33:46Z | 2023-01-24 18:33:46 | A hilarious pop-culture hash. The Big Lebowski is the best movie ever set mostly in a bowling alley. |
| 178624 | Elvis Mitchell | Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-01-24T18:28:23Z | 2023-01-24 18:28:23 | A likably off-balance, screwball comedy mystery that cruises along so smoothly, and so quickly, you've got to pay attention. That's because Bridges' towering performance may divert your eye from the keen details. |
| 178625 | Alison Gillmor | Winnipeg Free Press | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-01-24T01:58:13Z | 2023-01-24 01:58:13 | The Big Lebowski doesn't have [Fargo's] wholeness, but it does have absolutely perfect moments -- quirky details, darkly funny dialogue, indelible small parts. |
| 178626 | Donna Bowman | Nashville Scene | Fresh | — | 2023-01-24T01:53:22Z | 2023-01-24 01:53:22 | If The Big Lebowski’s L.A. lights seem a little dim in the long shadow of Fargo, the movie invites you just to step out of the darkness and laugh. |
| 178627 | Rita Kempley | Washington Post | Fresh | — | 2023-01-24T01:52:27Z | 2023-01-24 01:52:27 | The Stranger sums it up best in the self-serving epilogue: "It was a purty good story, dontcha think? Made me laugh to beat the band... Parts, anyway." |
| 178628 | Richard Schickel | TIME Magazine | Fresh | — | 2023-01-24T01:49:59Z | 2023-01-24 01:49:59 | Even when they don't achieve the glorious farce of a Fargo, there is always something fascinating about following the Coens' rapt gaze as they peer into the American nut bowl. |
| 178629 | Eleanor Ringel Cater | Atlanta Journal-Constitution | Fresh | B- | 2023-01-24T01:49:09Z | 2023-01-24 01:49:09 | The Big Lebowski is probably the worst movie the Coen brothers have ever made. Which, given their track record and the other movies out there, doesn't necessarily mean it's all that bad. Still, "Lebowski" is something of a letdown. |
| 178630 | Donald Munro | Fresno Bee | Fresh | B | 2023-01-24T01:47:22Z | 2023-01-24 01:47:22 | Make no mistake: If Fargo came this close to machining out your weird-o-meter, The Big Lebowski will probably nudge you over the edge, then stand back and laugh as you splatter on the rocks below. |
| 178631 | Steve Persall | Tampa Bay Times | Fresh | A | 2023-01-24T01:45:11Z | 2023-01-24 01:45:11 | The most original and blithely astonishing comedy to blaze across the screen since Raising Arizona. |
| 178632 | Wallace Baine | Santa Cruz Sentinel | Rotten | C+ | 2023-01-24T01:42:24Z | 2023-01-24 01:42:24 | The burden of being Hollywood's hippest filmmakers looks to be weighing heavily on the Coen brothers. After Fargo, "Lebowski" is a return to the overly manner film-nerd humor of The Hudsucker Proxy. |
| 178633 | Carrie Rickey | Philadelphia Inquirer | Fresh | 2.5/4 | 2023-01-24T01:39:05Z | 2023-01-24 01:39:05 | It is a funny picture, in both the ha-ha and peculiar senses. And if it is not as fully fledged as Raising Arizona and Fargo, this is because the Coen Brothers set such high standards for their edgy comedies. |
| 178634 | Bob Fenster | Arizona Republic | Fresh | 3/5 | 2023-01-24T01:36:37Z | 2023-01-24 01:36:37 | It seems designed to push a lot of the people who went for Fargo back out of the theater, while assuring those who remain that they're part of an elite if strange movie cult. |
| 178635 | Quentin Curtis | Daily Telegraph (UK) | Fresh | — | 2023-01-24T01:34:15Z | 2023-01-24 01:34:15 | At the center of all this is Bridges, an absolute standout if the term didn't seem a little inappropriate to this slouching performance. |
| 178636 | Philip French | Observer (UK) | Fresh | — | 2023-01-24T01:30:18Z | 2023-01-24 01:30:18 | For a film supposedly celebrating the pleasures of passivity, The Big Lebowski is a remarkably energetic affair, consistently funny and served up in incandescent images by Roger Deakins. |
| 178637 | Robert W. Butler | Kansas City Star | Fresh | 3/4 | 2023-01-24T01:27:38Z | 2023-01-24 01:27:38 | The Big Lebowski is shallow and empty and horrendously profane -- and about as much fun as you can have legally. |
| 178638 | Dann Gire | Chicago Daily Herald | Rotten | 2.5/4 | 2023-01-24T01:26:36Z | 2023-01-24 01:26:36 | With The Big Lebowski, the Coens return to their Hudsucker Proxy ways, and despite Jeff Bridges' ability to humanize the cast, this anxiously awaited Fargo follow-up falls victim to the dreaded style-over-substance virus. |
| 178639 | Jay Carr | Boston Globe | Fresh | — | 2023-01-24T01:23:01Z | 2023-01-24 01:23:01 | If its scattershot nature precludes the resonances of the Coens' big three films, it nevertheless is loaded with evanescent fun and a few consistently amusing characters. |
| 178640 | Michael Dwyer | Irish Times | Fresh | — | 2023-01-24T01:06:53Z | 2023-01-24 01:06:53 | The redoubtable Jeff Bridges is admirably deadpan as the amiable Dude, and John Goodman rarely has been so effectively employed on screen. |
| 178641 | Mike Davies | Birmingham Post | Fresh | — | 2023-01-24T01:02:21Z | 2023-01-24 01:02:21 | The Coens ladle on their usual attention to detail, off-kilter characters, dazzling visuals and hip dialogue, while underlaying a subtle theme about friendship and being a man. Their best since Barton Fink. |
| 178642 | Jay Stone | Ottawa Citizen | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-01-24T00:55:37Z | 2023-01-24 00:55:37 | This is the coolest, funniest, most out-of-control movie of the year, a great big Lebowski of a thing that stops making a lot of sense halfway in, but never, ever stops being entertaining and outrageous. |
| 178643 | Henry Sheehan | Orange County Register | Rotten | C- | 2023-01-24T00:50:11Z | 2023-01-24 00:50:11 | "Lebowski" is, as it turns out, a comedy, yet Joel and Ethan Coen, so adept at sneering at the shortcomings of others, have failed to put anything funny in the movie. |
| 178644 | Gary Wolcott | Tri-City Herald | Fresh | — | 2023-01-24T00:29:54Z | 2023-01-24 00:29:54 | The Big Lebowski is an outrageously funny film. Nothing is sacred, and the Coens hold nothing back. |
| 178645 | Terry Lawson | Detroit Free Press | Fresh | 3/4 | 2023-01-21T01:17:27Z | 2023-01-21 01:17:27 | Bridges completely gets the Coens and what they are going for, or in this case, what they are avoiding. They may be the only filmmakers in the world who would consider hearing The Big Lebowski described as a waste of time as a compliment. |
| 178646 | Jack Kroll | Newsweek | Rotten | — | 2023-01-21T01:09:52Z | 2023-01-21 01:09:52 | Move over, Hudsucker Proxy, here comes The Big Lebowski. |
| 178647 | Dave Kehr | New York Daily News | Rotten | 2/4 | 2023-01-21T01:00:15Z | 2023-01-21 01:00:15 | It's a tired idea, and it produces an episodic, unstrung film. |
| 178648 | Russell Mulvey | Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Alberta) | Fresh | — | 2023-01-21T00:49:24Z | 2023-01-21 00:49:24 | All of this is more or less entertaining if only because of the slack-jawed performance of Jeff Bridges as the Dude. His portrayal of a man who is content with his total lack of ambition is really quite good. |
| 178649 | Bill Brownstein | Montreal Gazette | Fresh | — | 2023-01-21T00:43:35Z | 2023-01-21 00:43:35 | The Big Lebowski is, simply put, the sort of stylized lark that would land most other filmmakers in the gutter (or the asylum) for good. But on the Coen brothers, it looks good. |
| 178650 | Lawrence Toppman | Charlotte Observer | Rotten | C | 2023-01-21T00:38:38Z | 2023-01-21 00:38:38 | Fans (myself included) may cackle at absurd situations and in-jokes. But director Joel and producer Ethan, who write together, have never made so much clamorous ado about nothing. |
| 178651 | Bruce R. Miller | Sioux City Journal | Fresh | 3/4 | 2023-01-21T00:26:10Z | 2023-01-21 00:26:10 | It's a fun film but, like the White Russians Bridges downs, it provides a buzz without offering any nutrition. |
| 178652 | David Denby | New York Magazine/Vulture | Rotten | — | 2023-01-21T00:22:29Z | 2023-01-21 00:22:29 | Jeff Bridges has so much dedication as an actor that he sacrifices himself to the Coen brothers’ self-defeating conception. Even Bridges can’t open up a character who remains unconscious. |
| 178653 | Graham Young | Birmingham Mail | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-01-21T00:16:26Z | 2023-01-21 00:16:26 | The Big Lebowski is worth seeing for Jeff Bridges’ towering performance alone. |
| 178654 | Paul Byrnes | Sydney Morning Herald | Fresh | — | 2023-01-21T00:10:40Z | 2023-01-21 00:10:40 | Bridges, Goodman and Buscemi are so good together as the bowling zeroes that they paper over the film's many cracks. |
| 178655 | Martin Hoyle | Financial Times | Fresh | — | 2023-01-20T23:49:05Z | 2023-01-20 23:49:05 | The film's cheerful good nature scores palpable hits along the way, finely acted by a cast including some of the Coens' regulars. John Goodman is bulldozingly good as The Dude's sidekick. |
| 178656 | Nanciann Cherry | Toledo Blade | Fresh | 2.5/4 | 2023-01-20T23:32:58Z | 2023-01-20 23:32:58 | The Big Lebowski may be the most original comedy to come down the pike in many a year, or the Coen brothers may be playing an Emperor's-New-Clothes type of game to see how long they can snooker the audience. |
| 178657 | Ryan Gilbey | Independent (UK) | Fresh | — | 2023-01-20T23:29:52Z | 2023-01-20 23:29:52 | This is the first time that the Coen Brothers have tied one of their films to a specific year, and it's heartening to see them engaging with the real world without relinquishing their grasp on fantasy. |
| 178658 | Katherine Monk | Vancouver Sun | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-01-20T23:23:02Z | 2023-01-20 23:23:02 | Just sit back and enjoy it, dude -- maybe life isn't supposed to make sense. |
| 178659 | Michael Wilmington | Chicago Tribune | Fresh | 3.5/4 | 2023-01-20T23:20:10Z | 2023-01-20 23:20:10 | It takes a largely undocumented chunk of reality and twists it into a surreal comic film noir wonderland, full of delightfully bent characters and darkly hilarious set-pieces, gasser performances, great lines and right-on portraiture. |
| 178660 | Ann Hornaday | Baltimore Sun | Rotten | 2.5/4 | 2023-01-20T23:15:29Z | 2023-01-20 23:15:29 | Presumably the brothers just wanted to have a little fun after the grandeur and gravitas of Fargo... But The Big Lebowski winds up crushing the audience under the constant pressure of its own vapidity, invective and volume level. |
| 178661 | Alison Macor | Austin American-Statesman | Fresh | 2.5/4 | 2023-01-20T23:10:32Z | 2023-01-20 23:10:32 | The Big Lebowski's story pales in comparison to its characters. Rather than watching the film in anticipation of its next entertaining setup, we look to the characters for some relief from the story's gutter balls. |
| 178662 | Malcolm Johnson | Hartford Courant | Rotten | 2/4 | 2023-01-20T02:08:06Z | 2023-01-20 02:08:06 | Unfortunately, though, Bridges does not do much for The Dude, unlike William Hurt as a somewhat similar type in The Big Chill. He is all hair and very little else as he pilots his rust mobile about L.A. |
| 178663 | Bob Ross | Tampa Tribune | Fresh | 3.5/4 | 2023-01-20T02:02:17Z | 2023-01-20 02:02:17 | The Coens have always mixed a mean verbal-visual cocktail, and "Lebowski" reminds us that choice moments need not make perfect sense. |
| 178664 | Jay Boyar | Orlando Sentinel | Fresh | 3/5 | 2023-01-20T01:51:57Z | 2023-01-20 01:51:57 | Where Fargo was cool and wryly detached, the zany new film is aggressively antic -- more like parts of their Barton Fink or The Hudsucker Proxy. On occasion, in fact, the Coens' anything-goes approach can begin to get on your nerves. |
| 178665 | Dan Webster | Spokesman-Review (Washington) | Fresh | 3.5/4 | 2023-01-20T01:43:29Z | 2023-01-20 01:43:29 | It would be hard to think of another leading man (Nick Nolte comes to mind) who would be so willing to dumb down, so good at it and yet so capable of making his character someone whom we might actually care about. |
| 178666 | Todd Lothery | News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) | Fresh | 3/4 | 2023-01-20T01:37:26Z | 2023-01-20 01:37:26 | It's nearly impossible to convey the unadulterated fun to be had watching this movie. Its pleasures may be evanescent, but sometimes those are the best kind. |
| 178667 | Joe Riley | Liverpool Echo | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-01-20T01:36:16Z | 2023-01-20 01:36:16 | There are those who will find this no more than the Coens playing clever with an odd assortment of characters and Hollywood homage spoofs. Yet what they are actually playing with is cinema itself. |
| 178668 | Jack Mathews | Newsday | Rotten | 2.5/4 | 2023-01-20T01:34:21Z | 2023-01-20 01:34:21 | There are hilarious bits strewn throughout, and a deft set of performances... But there also are more comic misfires, more uninspired gags and meaningless camera tricks than the Coens have accounted for in all their previous films combined. |
| 178669 | Dennis King | Tulsa World | Fresh | 3/4 | 2023-01-20T01:27:23Z | 2023-01-20 01:27:23 | After the sharpness and coherence of Fargo, this film seems less a focused narrative than a freewheeling goof on movie conventions. However, even when they're not fully on their game, the Coens seem incapable of being boring. |
| 178670 | Alex Ross | Slate | Rotten | — | 2023-01-20T01:23:37Z | 2023-01-20 01:23:37 | Do these enormously talented filmmakers show a moral failing?... I think they do. Their sin is pride. The Coens have reached a stage where they no longer question their ideas or flesh them out. |
| 178671 | Ron Weiskind | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Fresh | — | 2023-01-20T01:14:40Z | 2023-01-20 01:14:40 | The Coens have created a character study masquerading as a mystery. But the whodunit proves as substantial as a case of the munchies. |
| 178672 | Manohla Dargis | L.A. Weekly | Fresh | — | 2023-01-20T01:01:27Z | 2023-01-20 01:01:27 | It's as if the Coens have finally given up trying to prove that they're smarter than the movies -- or at least smarter than everyone else making movies. As a consequence, "Lebowski" is... The closest they've ventured toward likability. |
| 178673 | Paul Tatara | CNN.com | Rotten | — | 2023-01-20T00:55:27Z | 2023-01-20 00:55:27 | Yes, it's different. Yes, it's odd. Yes, it's got some laughs. For all those "yeses," though, it eventually adds up to an overly busy "no." |
| 178674 | Geoff Brown | The Times (UK) | Fresh | — | 2023-01-20T00:39:49Z | 2023-01-20 00:39:49 | Sometimes the archness of the performances kills the jokes. Sometimes the joke itself falls flat. But there is something endearing about a film so cavalier about making sense and so fearless about treading on feelings. |
| 178675 | Adrian Martin | The Age (Australia) | Rotten | 1/5 | 2023-01-20T00:31:39Z | 2023-01-20 00:31:39 | The latest, gruesome effort from Joel and Ethan Coen is surely one of the least bearable films of 1998. Suddenly, the dubious facets that were kept under control in their previous films march to the foreground and obliterate all else. |
| 178676 | Quentin Falk | Sunday Mirror (UK) | Rotten | — | 2023-01-20T00:25:12Z | 2023-01-20 00:25:12 | Sadly, I suspect this patchwork of outrageous comedy, sex, violence, and bad language will restore the Brothers to minority interest. |
| 178677 | David Stratton | sbs.com.au | Fresh | 4.5/5 | 2023-01-20T00:23:11Z | 2023-01-20 00:23:11 | In the wake of the wonderful Fargo, Joel and Ethan Coen have made a delightfully quirky comedy comparable to their second feature, Raising Arizona. |
| 178678 | Michael Sragow | New Times | Fresh | — | 2023-01-20T00:22:06Z | 2023-01-20 00:22:06 | Bridges gives the Dude a textured fuzziness that wins the film its biggest laughs and imparts a second-to-second emotional authenticity to its jumbled, showoffy action. He's precisely what those aesthetic wiseacres the Coen brothers need. |
| 178679 | Alexander Walker | London Evening Standard | Rotten | — | 2023-01-20T00:19:53Z | 2023-01-20 00:19:53 | I think that Joel and Ethan Coen have the sharpest ears in the business. This time, though, they have let their fondness for pastiche run off with them to the extent that they’re pastiching themselves. |
| 178680 | Hillel Italie | Associated Press | Rotten | — | 2023-01-20T00:19:10Z | 2023-01-20 00:19:10 | A letdown, another comedy that's strange for the sake of being strange. This one's a riff on detective movies. It has nothing to say but does take a long time to say it. |
| 178681 | John Millar | Daily Record (UK) | Fresh | 8/10 | 2023-01-20T00:15:25Z | 2023-01-20 00:15:25 | The Big Lebowski is everything you might expect from the highly original Coen brothers. The talented cast look as though they’ve had the time of their lives as they go with the flow in a movie that bops along with one of the soundtracks of the year. |
| 178682 | Richard Williams | Guardian | Fresh | — | 2023-01-20T00:10:34Z | 2023-01-20 00:10:34 | It's a bunch of ideas shoveled into a bag and allowed to spill out at random. The film is infuriating, and will win no prizes. But it does have some terrific jokes. |
| 178683 | Rob Lowing | The Sun-Herald (Australia) | Fresh | 7/10 | 2023-01-20T00:06:23Z | 2023-01-20 00:06:23 | The very pointlessness of the story will annoy some viewers -- this is a revolving door of amusing characters, but the lack of crisp narrative drive makes it fun in a vacuum. Still, the characters are worth the price of a ticket alone. |
| 178684 | Sean P. Means | Salt Lake Tribune | Rotten | 2/4 | 2023-01-19T23:52:12Z | 2023-01-19 23:52:12 | Every Coen Brothers movie has its share of goofball touches, but The Big Lebowski is all touches and no coherence. It may roll a few strikes, but the story is a big gutter ball. |
| 178685 | Dan DiNicola | The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY) | Fresh | B | 2023-01-19T23:09:36Z | 2023-01-19 23:09:36 | You're into this not so much for the plot but for the kicks and L.A. ambiance. |
| 178686 | Tom Ryan | The Sunday Age | Rotten | 2/5 | 2023-01-19T23:07:39Z | 2023-01-19 23:07:39 | The Coens' characteristic quirkiness, kept in check when they're at their masterful best (as in Fargo and Miller's Crossing), here goes way out of control. |
| 178687 | Robert Denerstein | Denver Rocky Mountain News | Fresh | 3/4 | 2023-01-19T23:05:05Z | 2023-01-19 23:05:05 | The mix of dated attitudes, weird locations and dopey humor is elevated by the usual Coen brothers inventiveness. Still, not up to Fargo standards. |
| 178688 | Jeffrey Westhoff | Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL) | Fresh | 3.5/4 | 2023-01-19T23:02:40Z | 2023-01-19 23:02:40 | What makes The Big Lebowski great is the sheer insanity of its drive. The disconnected parts come together as a hilarious whole, cemented by Bridges' loopy, stuck-in-the-'70s performance. |
| 178689 | Godfrey Cheshire | New York Press | Fresh | — | 2023-01-19T22:59:52Z | 2023-01-19 22:59:52 | Credit the Coens and Bridges, one of our best actors, that all obvious Cheech-and-Chongness is blithely skirted and a certain daffy grace achieved. Even if "Lebowski" is finally a minor movie, Bridges is, without question, a major Dude. |
| 178690 | John Powers | NPR's Fresh Air | Rotten | — | 2023-01-19T22:32:12Z | 2023-01-19 22:32:12 | The movie itself seems stoned... The Coens have always had a weakness for making us laugh at everything in the name of nothing. When you try to pin down what The Big Lebowski is actually saying, you're told that you're actually missing the point. |
| 178691 | Hap Erstein | Palm Beach Post | Rotten | 2/4 | 2023-01-19T22:19:29Z | 2023-01-19 22:19:29 | The entire cast jumps headfirst into this strained frivolity, acting as willing accomplices to this intermittently amusing, but ultimately pointless, diversion. The problem is with the Coens' jointly written script, which gets lost in its own tangents. |
| 178692 | Rene Rodriguez | Miami Herald | Rotten | 2/4 | 2023-01-19T22:14:22Z | 2023-01-19 22:14:22 | One big, goofy, self-indulgent joke. The Coens' sense of humor has always contained a healthy streak of disdain, and this time that disdain is aimed squarely at the audience. They're not out to entertain the viewer; they're out to entertain themselves. |
| 178693 | Marshall Fine | Journal News (Westchester, NY) | Fresh | 4/4 | 2023-01-19T22:11:33Z | 2023-01-19 22:11:33 | Raymond Chandler meets Cheech and Chong in the Coen brothers' The Big Lebowski, the funniest spin on the detective film in years. |
| 178694 | Peter Howell | Toronto Star | Fresh | 4/5 | 2023-01-19T21:51:51Z | 2023-01-19 21:51:51 | Forget Fargo, the Coen Bros. previous and much more linear work, and don't even bother trying to follow the money in this tumbleweed of a film noir crime caper. |
| 178695 | Andy Lowe | Total Film | Fresh | 5/5 | 2023-01-19T21:41:35Z | 2023-01-19 21:41:35 | The colder you go into this joyously unpredictable film, the better. This is the sight and sound of the Coens letting their hair down, and you really shouldn't miss the party. |
| 178696 | Gene Siskel | Chicago Tribune | Rotten | 2/4 | 2023-01-19T21:38:50Z | 2023-01-19 21:38:50 | A major disappointment from Fargo writer-directors Joel and Ethan Coen... The film is being billed as comedy with bowling scenes, but it doesn't hold a candle to 1996's bowling comedy, Kingpin. |
| 178697 | Eve Tushnet | Patheos | Fresh | — | 2021-06-05T00:52:14Z | 2021-06-05 00:52:14 | You can't not enjoy watching Jeff Bridges drawl and ramble around... |
| 178698 | Josh Larsen | LarsenOnFilm | Fresh | 3/4 | 2021-05-12T16:50:30Z | 2021-05-12 16:50:30 | ...at once the most fun and the least fun of the Coen brothers' films. |
| 178699 | Sarah Brinks | Battleship Pretension | Fresh | — | 2021-03-24T23:11:21Z | 2021-03-24 23:11:21 | I do like the clever story telling. It keeps you guessing throughout. The script is tightly structured and there are some very memorable lines. |
| 178700 | Jonah Koslofsky | The Spool | Fresh | — | 2021-02-04T20:12:05Z | 2021-02-04 20:12:05 | What a great, silly movie. |
| 178701 | Fico Cangiano | CineXpress Podcast | Fresh | 3/5 | 2021-02-03T18:34:13Z | 2021-02-03 18:34:13 | The dude abides. Jeff Bridges and John Goodman standout in the stoner comedy film to rule them all. [Full review in Spanish] |
| 178702 | Mike Massie | Gone With The Twins | Fresh | 10/10 | 2020-09-10T07:20:03Z | 2020-09-10 07:20:03 | The dialogue is riddled with moody, witty cursing and unequalled wordplay - and all sorts of sarcastic nonsense. |
| 178703 | Brent McKnight | The Last Thing I See | Fresh | A | 2020-07-15T22:11:34Z | 2020-07-15 22:11:34 | A frantic mish-mash of comedy, mystery, and cinematic trickery that, while it can be overwhelming at first glance, is one of the most unique and entertaining films in a generation. |
| 178704 | Brian Gill | Mad About Movies Podcast | Fresh | A+ | 2020-07-15T22:11:26Z | 2020-07-15 22:11:26 | I could tell you how much I love this movie but that's just, like, my opinion, man. |
| 178705 | Sezín Koehler | Black Girl Nerds | Fresh | 3/5 | 2020-05-24T01:00:15Z | 2020-05-24 01:00:15 | If The Dude is the representative figure of early 1990s America - a lazy white guy constantly breaking the law with impunity - it's no wonder his story remains relevant even now that the film is old enough to order its own White Russian. |
| 178706 | Tim Brayton | Alternate Ending | Fresh | 4.5/5 | 2020-05-19T06:30:08Z | 2020-05-19 06:30:08 | The comedy largely centers itself on Bridges, whose blissfully nonplussed reaction shots always provide a grounding effect for the rest of the movie. |
| 178707 | Duane Byrge | The Hollywood Reporter | Fresh | — | 2020-03-06T22:33:07Z | 2020-03-06 22:33:07 | For those of you who forgot how good Bridges was in The Fisher King, here is a reminder. As the gung-ho Nam veteran, Goodman's tenacious, tightly coiled demeanor is smartly explosive and very funny. |
| 178708 | Brian D. Johnson | Maclean's Magazine | Rotten | — | 2019-10-30T00:22:17Z | 2019-10-30 00:22:17 | What made Fargo work, aside from the regional kitsch, was a solid story and believable characters worth caring about. The Big Lebowski has neither. |
| 178709 | Tim Dirks | Filmsite | Fresh | A+ | 2019-09-28T03:22:44Z | 2019-09-28 03:22:44 | The Big Lebowski is a dark, idiosyncratic and quirky comedy/crime caper-thriller involving an intriguing complex case of mistaken identity, deception, double-crosses, and a mysterious kidnapping. It came from the inventive, cultish... |
| 178710 | Asia Frey | Lagniappe (Mobile, AL) | Fresh | — | 2019-04-25T17:01:08Z | 2019-04-25 17:01:08 | "The Big Lebowski" is easy to love and rewarding to obsess over, but for me, it's more than just a fun movie to quote; it's a comforting memory generator, and when I watch it, if I squint, I can kind of see my dad again. |
| 178711 | Manuela Lazic | The Ringer | Fresh | — | 2019-04-18T21:02:02Z | 2019-04-18 21:02:02 | Already a pessimistic take on the American Dream and the ideal of the self-made man, the model of the film-noir detective is ridiculed in The Big Lebowski. |
| 178712 | Adam Nayman | The Ringer | Fresh | — | 2018-09-20T20:30:45Z | 2018-09-20 20:30:45 | Lebowski's virtuosity serves a sense of modesty. |
| 178713 | Peter Bradshaw | Guardian | Fresh | 5/5 | 2018-09-20T14:37:57Z | 2018-09-20 14:37:57 | One of a kind. |
| 178714 | Danielle Solzman | Solzy at the Movies | Fresh | 5/5 | 2018-08-06T01:10:10Z | 2018-08-06 01:10:10 | If one were to examine the entire cinematic resume of the Coen Brothers, The Big Lebowskiwould assuredly rest within the top five spots. |
Showing the latest 100 canonical reviews for this movie.