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Two weeks ago Netflix sent me a nice little e-mail saying they’d finally partnered with Nintendo and created a disc that allows you to stream instantly from your Wii. After I was done doing my own dance of joy I clicked “send me the disc” and have been in love ever since. I now get to stream Netflix titles over my beautiful TV instead of my tiny computer screen!!!

Now that my geek is showing, one of the first movies I streamed was The Ugly Truth. While I don’t think this film is quite to the caliber of When Harry Met Sally, I enjoy it because it took the time to actually develop a plot and characters instead of just running into clichéd romantic comedy scenarios. Don’t get me wrong, you can pretty much predict the ending of the movie from the get go, but what I am saying is that despite this The Ugly Truth is genuinely funny and enjoyable to watch.

The only part of this film that is a somewhat genuine issue for me is the last 10 or so minutes. We’ve already figured out at this point that our lead characters are going to end up together (I don’t consider this a spoiler because come on, did you really think it’d be a romantic comedy without the leads hooking up?) but something about the way it happens seems sudden and tacked on to me. Katherine Heigl & Gerard Butler have enough chemistry and wit that they pull it off, but it still seems rushed. It’s almost as though since the writer knew it was a romantic comedy and they’d end up together in the last scenes he concentrated on making the buildup convincing and well rounded and then petered out in the last twenty pages.

The bottom line is this movie is cute and the actors and director bring wit and chemistry to the screen. That’s all you want in a good romantic comedy, and The Ugly Truth has enough other pluses along with it that you really enjoy being along for the ride.

Abby: I love how you think every man is as perverse as you are.
Mike: Oh, I don't think. I know.

The Big Lebowski is exactly what the brothers Coen do best – a quirky film about morons. And what is The Dude if not a loveable moron? Set during the Golf War, The Big Lebowski is started by a tale of mistaken identity, that leads our main character into the role of armature gumshoe when the “big” Lebowski’s wife disappears and all The Dude wants is to get paid and bowl.

Robert Altman may have made movies that were about nothing in the sense that they were a slice of his characters life, but the it’s the Coen’s that have truly mastered the art of making films about nothing and The Big Lebowski is a classic example of this. A great many things occur in The Big Lebowski and yet a traditional, filmic plot never appears; in fact, evey event that should be a ground breaking plot point simply fizzles out and turns out to be less than important to the film as a whole. It’s beautiful, brilliant, hilarious and surprisingly hard to do well.

In a career or brilliant films and characters, Jeff Bridges fits The Dude perfectly. He is a joy to watch and after seeing him at awards shows for Crazy Heart I am pretty sure that one of the reasons The Dude seems so authentic is because Bridges is really that laid back and relaxed.

As amazing as The Dude is, for me Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) stole the show. Walter is The Dude’s best friend and a Vietnam War vet who wants to relate everything back to his time in Nam. He is loud, bostrious, angry and everything that you want a crazy Coen character to be. The only reason Goodman doesn’t steal Bridges’s scenes is because the Coen’s manage to raise the two consistently to the level of the other, playing off each other beautifully to create part of the magic of the world of The Big Lebowski.

Along with Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, The Big Lebowski might hold some of my favorite narration in a film – ever. For no apparent reason the film is narrated by a cowboy patron of the bar at the bowling alley in the film, and he’s a narrator that looses his train of thought and admires The Dude for no other reason than he admires his style. It’s a fantastic way to open and close the film, rivaling the FBI officials in Burn After Reading.

The Big Lebowski is a cult classic for a reason. If like me, you’re a Coen fan that hasn’t seen it I highly recommend changing that. I did.

Directed & Written By: Joel & Ethan Coen
Jeffrey Lebowski/The Dude: Jeff Bridges
Walter Sobchak: John Goodman
Maude Lebowski: Julianne Moore
Donny: Steve Buscemi
Jeffrey Lebowski/The Big LEbowski: David Huddleston
Brandt: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Bunny Lebowski: Tara Reid

The Dude: And, you know, he's got emotional problems, man.
Walter Sobchak: You mean... beyond pacifism?

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