The Big Lebowski

Parents need to know that The Big Lebowski is the classic 1998 Coen Brothers comedy in which Jeff Bridges plays a laid-back slacker who becomes embroiled in a kidnapping and extortion scheme. There's constant profanity throughout the movie, and "f--k" is the word of choice of The Dude and his friends. Saddam Hussein is referred to as a "camel f---er," and The Dude refers to one of the men who attacked him as a "Chinaman." There's some violence, including The Dude getting beaten up and knocked out by thugs, attacked with a marmot by nihilists, and knocked over by a strike in the head with a coffee cub by the Malibu chief of police. The Dude's friend Walter bites off the ear of one of the nihilists, and vandalizes a Corvette with a tire iron. The Dude often smokes pot, and is known for drinking White Russians. In one scene, The Dude smokes a joint and drinks a beer while driving, resulting in a crash. The trophy wife of the "other" Lebowski is a pornographic film actress shown in a scene in one of her movies showing female nudity. The actress offers to perform oral sex on The Dude for $1000. The movie, characters, and story have taken on a life of their own among its rabid fan base, and families can talk about the ways in which the movie, like many of the Coen Brothers movies, is a satire of the culture and people of a particular region of America (in this case, Southern California), and also how The Dude is viewed as a kind of Zen master who "abides" through life's ups and downs.