1. The widespread failure of critics to appreciate the Big Lebowski is really part of a more general tendency not to appreciate off-kilter comedy.https://twitter.com/notjessewalker/status/971576839352344576 …
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2. My general sense is critics like the Coen's more earnest & naturalistic movies (Fargo, No Country) & have a hard time with the skewed, whacky comedies (Lebowski, Burn After Reading, Hail Caesar).
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3. It's true that loopy, bug-eyed comedy is hard to do well & the Coen's biggest failures (Hudsucker, Lady Killers) are in this genre, when they lose control of their material.
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4. The larger problem is that default mode of most film criticism is naturalism -- so any exuberant, deliberately exaggerated art is suspect (reviews of Kubrick have same problem).
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Jeet Heer Retweeted Rian Johnson
5. This is a good point. All good movies improve on re-watching but Lebowski is on a steep curve -- after 3 or 4 viewings it is a different movie.https://twitter.com/rianjohnson/status/971589084584976384 …
Jeet Heer added,
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Jeet Heer Retweeted Dennis Herring
6. Yeah, Paul Thomas Anderson is in same camp as Kurbrick/Coen -- although PTA does get his share of critical love.https://twitter.com/dcherring/status/971589779723726848 …
Jeet Heer added,
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7. Back to Kubrick: I was recently re-reading a lot of Pauline Kael recently and noticed that she hated every Kubrick movie after Dr. Strangelove. That's amazing!
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8. I mean you can dispute the relative merits of Clockwork Orange or The Shinning, but to consistently dislike all of Kubrick's major post-Strangelove works suggests a critical blindspot.
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9. I think Kael wasn't able to appreciate most of Kubrick because she mistook his high artifice (a deliberate choice of modes) as a failure of naturalism & sign of lack of feelings.
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10. But, ultimately, good film criticism isn't about being right or wrong so much as it's about explaining your reaction convincingly. So Kael or Kubrick or the Lebowski pans don't bother me.
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11. In fact, my favorite movie podcasters (@williamfleitch & @TimGrierson) still don't like the Big Lebowski! But they explain their lack of enthusiasm well here:https://soundcloud.com/grierson-leitch/a-fantastic-woman-winchester …
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Will Leitch has an unrivaled ability to be wrong about nearly everything. I respect it.
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