Becoming cult: The Big Lebowski, replay culture and male fans

After premiering at a number of film festivals, Joel and Ethan Coen’s The Big Lebowski debuted theatrically in North America in March 1998 as a much anticipated followup to their previous venture Fargo (1996). A crime thriller cum regional satire set in North Dakota and Minnesota, Fargo had not only quickly become the critics’ darling but had grossed three times its $7 million budget in its initial run. Despite a wider opening in film theatres, The Big Lebowski, a comedy noir set in Los Angeles, earned only $17.5 million in the USA, barely recouping its $15 million budget. Although the film proceeded to gross an additional $29 million in film theatres abroad, its reputation as a box-office failure endured. Unfavourable critical response exacerbated the aura of disappointment surrounding its opening. Of The Big Lebowski’s script, one critic wrote, ‘It’s hard to believe that this is the team that won an Oscar last year for the original screenplay of Fargo. The large amount of profanity . . . seems a weak attempt to paper over dialogue gaps.’ Another lamented that the Coen brothers were ‘more and more taking the lazy-ass David Lynch route by simply throwing weirdness at the screen. [Though] uniquely talented . . . they don’t seem capable of learning a damn thing from their previous misfires.’ Judged as a box-office flop and a ‘massive artistic failure’, reviewers blamed what they saw as the film’s incoherent plot, bizarre characters and uneven screenplay for its inability to appeal even to the Coen brothers’ independent film and arthouse audiences. Given its inauspicious beginnings, The Big Lebowski’s claim on public attention might have ended shortly after it disappeared from the silver screen. But this was far from the case. It became a cult hit in the aftermarket, collecting throngs of die-hard fans worldwide, inspiring 1 Peter Howell, ‘Coens’ latest doesn’t hold together’, Toronto Star, 19 January 1998. 2 Paul Tatara, ‘Big Lebowski is fun, but won’t bowl you over’, CNN Interactive, 5 March 1998. ,http://www.cnn.com/ SHOWBIZ/9803/05/ review.big.lebowski/. [accessed 14 November 2009]. 3 Steve Palopoli, ‘The last cult picture show’, Metroactive Movies, 25 July 2002. ,http:// www.metroactive.com/papers/ metro/07.25.02/lebowski10230.html. [accessed 14 November 2009].