Leave it to the Coen brothers to make a movie about a wise-cracking, pot-smoking, unemployed bowling enthusiast who goes to the grocery store in his bathrobe to write a check for 69 cents.

The big surprise of the Coens' new film The Big Lebowski is that Jeff Lebowski (Jeff Bridges), known to his pals simply as "the Dude," turns out to be one of the funniest and most likable screen characters in recent memory.

The Big Lebowski carries high expectations, coming on the heels of the Coens' unexpectedly successful Fargo, but these eccentric filmmakers don't seem to care much about expectations. Where Fargo was a cool, controlled story with precise bits of black humor, The Big Lebowski lets it all hang loose.

Here the Coens are ready to try anything: in addition to the masterful character of the film's title, the movie features a band of German nihilists, a burnt-out surfer, a tightwad millionaire, a mysterious femme fatale and an attack ferret.

Strange? Certainly, but not in the same alienating manner that disturbed many viewers of Fargo. The lighthearted Big Lebowski dotes upon its ragtag hero and has a generous heart behind the veneer of its lowlife comic weirdness.

Besides the movie's constant-laugh screenplay, its biggest asset is the performance of Jeff Bridges, who seems to have found the role of his career in the Dude. The Dude lives in small apartment in decidedly un-chic part of L.A., in the already mythic time of "the early '90s," as the film's oddly anachronistic cowboy-narrator tells us. If pressured ever so slightly, the Dude will admit that he's a bum--but it's obviously a term that he takes some pride in.

Bridges perfectly captures the Dude's most essential quality: he's a happy man. No matter what insane complications the Coen brothers toss in his path, Bridges navigates his character through the knotty story with a remarkable laid back cool. He's so comfortable in this character that it's easy to forget that he's acting, even though it's not easy to pull off a performance as utterly nonchalant as this one.

It's fun to try to figure out The Big Lebowski's loopy plot, but an even better time can be had just watching Bridges' character trying to make sense of the confusion. The plot of The Big Lebowski is a spin on a detective yarn, which begins when the Dude meets a cranky old rich man who also happens to share his name, Jeffrey Lebowski.

Two henchmen looking to extort money from the more estimable of the two Mr. Lebowskis have accidentally searched out the Dude instead, and when the Dude proclaims his indifference to the whole situation, one of the goons pees on his rug. (No one said this movie is elegant.)

It is really the quest to reclaim his rug--which, he says, "really tied the room together"--that embroils the Dude in an unsavory kidnapping case which has absolutely nothing to do with him.

Contrasting Bridges' cavalier attitude is John Goodman as his bowling buddy Walter, who gets worked up about everything. The Coen brothers get plenty of good comic material out of this pair and thankfully don't overplay the "odd couple" element. Walter is a uniquely funny character too: though he obviously has a good heart, he can't stop his over-the-top rants. "Shomer Shabbas!" he screams, declaring his unwillingness to play an important league bowling game on the Jewish day of rest. Towards the end of the film, Goodman delivers a hilariously irrelevant, insensitive funeral elegy that somehow also manages to be genuinely moving.

The one fault of The Big Lebowski is that some of its minor characters seem a bit too familiar. Even though the supporting players are variations on established oddball types, they still provide plenty of amusing moments thanks to the experienced, creative cast.

The ubiquitous, bug-eyed Steve Buscemi appears as Donny, the third member of the Dude and Walter's bowling team; most of his scenes consist of Walter yelling "shut up, Donny!" at him.

Julianne Moore has a few great moments as a seductive experimental artist. John Turturro is also on hand as the egocentric, purple spandex-clad bowler Jesus Quintana, quite possibly the more outrageous character he as ever played.

The Coens also poke lots of gentle, knowing fun at the bowling alley which forms the backdrop for many funny scenes. Several wildly imaginative dream sequences use bowling motifs in unexpected ways: in one dream the camera takes the somewhat woozy point of view of a rolling bowling ball, and later Saddam Hussein rents out bowling shoes (it's the early '90s, remember).

This movie is the rare occurrence--though not so rare for the Coen duo--that combines a sharply written script with extensive visual imagination.

The Coen brothers have always been great at portraying unique, vivid worlds of their own creation. Just look at the bleak, twisted landscape of Fargo or the surreal corporate America of the underrated Hudsucker Proxy.

But The Big Lebowski marks the first time the Coens have created a character we can relate to, even if he happens to be a bum. Though the Dude has plenty of quirks, he also has a great sense of humor and an entirely human personality.

Even without this great character, The Big Lebowski would be a enjoyable unusually ride. But with the aid of a flawless performance Jeff Bridges, the Coens have created something more: a movie memorable not just for its weirdness but also for its good-natured take on humanity.