Movies everyone loves that you don't get?

^

Maybe I should re-watch this movie eventually. I was probably missing the shock value of it. I however was shocked during the fetus scene. It reminded me of Cabaret when Sally Bowles got an abortion, but we never see the fetus at all do we.

My Lebowski notes to self...

"Unexpectedly mediocre comedy, using a string of bigger name actors to try and elevate it above the rest? It's more about attitude (incl. swearing) than story, felt unrehearsed, overacted, too scripted, and "just reading lines" by some. Despite all that, a good 70% is "medium entertaining, expecting it to improve." It seems popular to lift quotes and visuals from. It's an IMDb Top 200 movie, just don't expect it to be. Some warm up to it after a rewatch, incl. Roger Ebert." 6.4/10

Back on YouTube in full with English subtitles.

"Taste of Cherry"

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Ha didn't expect it to turn it into a Lebowski pile on. I also can't stand Wes Anderson but maybe save that for another thread.

"For me, I know this may be sacrilegious, it's The Big Lebowski. "

Yep....one of the most boring and over-rated movies ever. I'll never have those 2 hours back. It's full of in-group-true-believer humor, which just isn't funny when you have not drank the kool-aid.

I did look at a couple of those "all time worst" lists and can flatter myself because I've not seen many of them. For some, I recall a trailer or an ad, then thinking, "no....something else tonight".

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Big Lebowski is always going to get mentioned in these conversations since a large portion of the population seems cold to comedies which are predominantly based in character. Basically 'jokeless' comedies where the humor is derived in understanding how a character views their world and having an instinctual grasp of the idiosyncrasies of their behavior in responding to it. What we are suppose to laugh at isn't telegraphed, and there are rarely punchlines, so to laugh along is to allow oneself to become immersed in the world being presented. Experience it along with the characters. Be amused or confused or enraged along with them. It's a very empathetic kind of humor (yet another reason it's unpopular with so many, since humor is often about outsiders, and the majority of people refuse to empathize with broken or ugly or unlikeable people...I assume under the usually misguided assumption that they are better than them). Withnail and I would probably be the other really strong example of this kind of thing (and is also probably the better movie).


For me Big Lebowski is an obviously funny movie, that only gets funnier the more one watches it (ie, the more we understand the characters and what motivates and aggravates them). This allows us to not only align our sympathies with them but be primed to watch them closer for the little moments where the humor is actually to be found.


But this growing personal closeness to the material also has its obvious issues. It doesnt help matters that character based humor has a tendency to develop rabid fandoms around them, as people might begin to identify too closely with characters that (in real life) would be obnoxious losers. This leads to lots of irritating hyperbole about how said film is the greatest of all time, and lots of dialogue quoting, and fan conventions and making those left on the outside even more resentful for 'not getting it'. Because that shit can be deeply hateable. And might make one disinclined to try and join the kind of cult mentality the film seems to cause. I certainly resisted for a long time because nothing makes me turn in the opposite direction faster than a person in real life quoting the film as if it's the ****ing bible.


So basically everyone is both right and wrong about this movie. We all should be ashamed

The Big Lebowski also gets some flack for its plot feeling unformed, but the more you think about The Dude's laziness and his lack of life aspirations, the various unnecessary/unresolved plot threads are the point of the film. Since The Dude doesn't care to change his life, he doesn't care to resolve/get fully involved in those plot threads. They're just threats to disrupting his way of living. Every obstacle in the plot is a test to see if The Dude can continue to live the life he prefers to live.

Therefore, while I usually don't like telling people they missed the point of a film, I would definitely say that for this film. Or at least, for those who criticize the film for such.

Yes, and it's the attitude of the character which makes its riffing on The Big Sleep, which is famous for being unintelligibly complicated with its tangle of competing narrative threads, such a perfect fit. Him shrugging in indifference at all the complications that surround him is all part of the big meta joke the film is built upon. He just wants his rug, while the film keeps demanding he try and solve some unsolvable riddle of a crime.


Also, it's great fun to tell people they missed the point of the film, considering how often this is true. And it also likely applies to all of the highly revered films that I think suck.


It's not some big shame to not grasp what a movie is going for, especially if one has only watched the film once. Films, and how we respond to them are complicated, and we often get way to hung up on our initial impressions.

The Big Lebowski is easier to follow than The Big Sleep. It's not the most tightly woven plot ever, but not totally incoherent either. Whereas with The Big Sleep you can loosely follow what's going on but will occasionally feel a little lost. What makes the movie so memorable though is the atmosphere itself, the fantastic performances and incredibly sharp, witty dialogue.

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Nope, now I am sure of it.

Sure of what? That I'm a tubercular alcoholic?


You got me pegged once again.

Lebowski doesn't hit the narrative dead ends that Big Sleep does. But the essence of the film is the same, where we get so bogged down in extraneous details, we lose sight of what is actually happening.


The stronger disciple of Big Sleeps obfuscations would be PT Anderson's Inherent Vice. Which is also equally amusing in theory, in that it uses its story confusion to mimic the headspace of a burnt out pot head. Also a movie people seem to actively hate when they don't get in board its wavelength

I have to agree regarding The Big Lebowski...I don't hate it, but I think it's terribly overrated.

Every movie directed by Nora Ephron

Every movie directed by Whit Stillman

Every movie directed by Wes Anderson

And half of most movies directed by David Lynch because they fall apart halfway thru.

This is probably what I ran into with my initial viewing of Alphaville. And probably many other supposed classics that I don’t feel “in tune” with or just don’t vibe with.

This list will probably make me lose my "cinephile card", but these are the ones where I mostly stray away from "the crowd"...

The Matrix
The Sixth Sense
Interstellar
Annie Hall
Breathless
Silver Linings Playbook
Evil Dead/Evil Dead 2

Maybe I can even include The Dark Knight, a film I like quite a bit, but that I just can't understand the "masterpiece" status that most people have bestowed upon it.

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Fat City
Nostalghia
The Graduate
The Imitation Game

Alphaville was on my wavelength immediately. It's one of my favorites of his.


Pierrot le Fou on the other hand took me a few times to respond to it.


Breathless? Four times and I'm still as lukewarm as the first time.


You never know. And sometimes certain movies will just never be for you. But for me becoming a fan of a film is never the whole point. It's just as much about the process of watching something and thinking about what works and what doesn't. And a guy like Godard always makes that process interesting, even in the movies of his I absolutely do not like (Tout va Bien, for one, or Film Socialisme, for another)

I’ve seen The Graduate countless times. It’s a classic of American cinema.

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