But it's not about the story; it's about the characters. The "hero," Dude (Jeff Bridges) is a '60s burnout, as is his buddy Walter (John Goodman), but they're at opposite ends of the spectrum: Dude is a blissfully stoned ex-hippie, Walter a tightly wound Vietnam vet. Few of the others we meet are actual well-drawn characters; they're all "characters" in the sense of "What a character!" Normally this would be a negative in a movie, but here it's just really damn funny. Especially John Turturro's cameo, which you have to see to believe.
You know, the more I try to explain it, the less I actually can. Just go see the movie, whenever it opens near you. It's got a great soundtrack (including two, count 'em, TWO versions of "Viva Las Vegas" -- speaking of things that would please only me, there's also a ferret in the movie, which is dropped into a bathtub by some thugs to terrorize Dude, and it's really hysterical to see Jeff Bridges flailing around in a tub with a ferret, like what does he think it's actually going to do to him?), it's got some beautifully wacky dream sequences, and did I mention it's really damn funny?
CLOSING RAVE: Our host, Harlan Jacobsen, mentioned that he flew into DC this morning at "the newly renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport," and the audience, god bless 'em, hissed and booed. He got a good joke out of it, though: "I deplaned at the 'Iran-Contragate.'"
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