The Big Lebowski Blu-ray review

The ultimate slacker tale from the strange and hilarious minds of the Coen brothers is finally available in a new limited edition Blu-ray book. The underachievement of the previously released special edition DVD are now in the past, with all new bonus content and 28 pages of collectible artwork and bios. The film is as good as ever in high definition, and the package is now worthy of the movie.

            Jeff Bridges stars as Jeff Lebowski, but he would much prefer everyone just call him “The Dude”. When he is mistaken for another Jeff Lebowski and threatened, The Dude’s main concern is that the perpetrator’s urinated on his rug, so he sets out to get a replacement. Suddenly a number of events are set into motion, throwing an extreme slacker into action, with the help of his bowling friends, Walter (John Goodman) and Donny (Steve Buscemi). This unlikely trio find themselves in the middle of a bizarre comedy of errors and mistaken identity. When the wife of the real Lebowski is kidnapped, things progress even further.

            After the dark (yet still humorous) tone of Fargo, the Coen brothers returned to lighter and stranger once again. The Big Lebowski always seemed to be the style that they settled into after Raising Arizona was mixed with the realistic style of Miller’s Crossing or Fargo. On first viewing I was not extremely fond of The Big Lebowski, but it is the kind of film which grows on you.

            Along with the limited edition book packaging, there is also a great making of featurette with the Coen brothers, despite the fact that they hate doing interviews. This feature is just under thirty minutes and it really does cover a lot of great territory, but there are new additions to the package which were not on previous DVD releases. There is a ten-year retrospective, a featurette on the dream sequences in the film, and a few other additions. Not to mention the fact that the disc has Universal’s U-Control feature, which allows for some fantastic features during playback. One lists the music in the film as it comes on, while another keeps track of the number of times the F-word is used. There is also picture-in-picture interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.