Opening with a tumbleweed drifting through Los Angeles, The Big Lebowski stars Jeff Bridges as The Dude, a burnt-out stoner who similarly drifts through life. That is, until a pair of thugs mistakenly soil his favorite rug. (It "really tied the room together.") In his half-baked hunt for payback, the Dude gets tangled in a web of nihilists, pornographers, and severed digits. Pay no heed to the red herrings and absurd plot twists, just order up some lingonberry pancakes and watch it again. With repeated viewings, the little details add up to big laughs.

Erik Gunther