The Dude, Jeff Bridges' '70s burn-out Philip Marlowe in a hot rock-singed bathrobe, still abides. But what makes the Coens' seventh film so inexhaustibly re-watchable is its oddball range of characters so gonzo, so heroically grotesque as to be the stuff of the greatest stoner comic-book never written. The brothers' harebrained homage to Raymond Chandler drooped at the box-office, but it found its home on VHS - making little excuse for the disinterested feel of this DVD.
DVD Extras:
"Did you know that in Italy it was released as Mister Marijuana and was quite a success?" blethers Mortimer Young, the pipe-puffing film preservation duffer whose spoof introduction augments this underweight re-issue. That the Coens seem so uncomfortable with the format is reflected in the Making Of - the pair shuffling in their seats and picking their fingernails while muttering valuable insights. If only they could get inside a commentary booth.
