Is The Big Lebowski a cultural milestone?

The Dude, Donny and Walter (photo courtesy of Universal Pictures) It's 10 years since the release of The Big Lebowski, a film that split cinema audiences down the middle but created a strange cult. What's special about it? Not everybody likes The Big Lebowski. The Big Lebowski is a cult film. That is to say, not everybody likes it but those who do, in the main, have a special relationship with it. One of the dream sequences (photo courtesy of Universal Pictures) When it was released, as the follow-up to the Coen brothers' well-regarded and academy-impressing Fargo, many critics found themselves underwhelmed. Fargo was a film that hung together well - tightly paced and plotted, full of dark humour and moments of pathos. The Big Lebowski, on the other hand, could be viewed as two hours of wild self-indulgence, packed to the... [read full story]