The Dude abided in Montreal on Friday as a group of performers led by Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Patton Oswalt revived the Coen brothers’ cult classic in front of a packed crowd, many of whom had queued for up to 10 hours for a ticket.
This Live Read was the latest in the seasonal series organised by director Jason Reitman in which an ersatz group of unprepared performers read aloud a classic script. Reitman has run the shows, mostly in Los Angeles, since 2011; he wrangles the cast and chips in with stage directions. It was a homecoming of sorts for the director, who was born here, and who returns as part of the annual Just For Laughs festival. That event’s general spirit of joie de vivre was a good match for the title Reitman picked; the two and a half hours flew by.
Fassbender and Oswalt played the Dude and his friend Walter, roles made famous by Jeff Bridges and John Goodman, while Lawrence took on Julianne Moore’s original part of Maude Lebowski. The rest of the group was fleshed out by Fassbender and Lawrence’s X-Men peers, in town to shoot the latest instalment, as well as by members of Mike Judge’s Silicon Valley ensemble.
Fassbender is not an actor best known for laughs, or indeed for less than intense performances, but from the moment he came on stage in shorts and bathrobe, it was clear he comedy was well in his repertoire. He slurred away convincingly, aided by drinks and unusually pungent cigarettes (Oswalt made reference to his co-star’s admirably method approach). Fassbender’s fine singing voice even made an appearance as he delivered a couple of lines from Kenny Rogers and the First Edition’s ‘Just Dropped In’ to the delighted crowd.
Oswalt – a live read veteran since he worked with Reitman on Young Adult - betrayed his giddy enjoyment of the Coens’ dialogue right through. He put enough distance between his and Goodman’s take to make the Walter his own, with frequent and typically witty embelishments.
Surprise guest Dennis Quaid let rip with some seriously splenetic anger as the other Lebowski while Martin Starr was strong in multiple roles including “convicted pederast” Jesus Quintana. TJ Miller was hilarious as giggly Brant (originally played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman), as well as a number of other characters, including the neighbour who has his brand new corvette smashed up.
The script originally called for a “Sam Shepard-like character” called The Stranger – here, Mike Judge was sublime. Indeed, his baritone drawl was one of the evening’s real highlights; also up there were his sycophantic mumblings as the landlord/modern dancer Marty.
Olivia Munn’s Bunny was bubbly and fun, but her strongest moment was when she accidentally stepped on Lawrence’s lines. “It was highlighted, motherfuckers!” she yelled in explanation, waving her script. It was one of those moments in which the live nature of the event seemed most glorious; ditto when Munn took over direction duties from Reitman, and even when Lawrence complained she’d waited three hours for her part.
After an entrance in which the Oscar-winner asked the front row if they could see up her skirt, Lawrence seemed a little fidgety being sidelined and left briefly, mugging as she slipped away. On returning, she spent much of the evening passing time waiting for her next line chatting with Starr and puffing away on a roll-up. Her mid-Atlantic accent echoed Julianne Moore, and save for a few charming stumbles over words like “satyriasis” or “vaginal” Lawrence’s turn was remarkable for being unremarkable.
Mae Whitman, on the other hand, was absolutely fizzing. Another frequent presence at Reitman’s reads, she was almost as enthusiastic as Oswalt in both performance and joy at the quality of the script. Her Donny was a delight, but she was also spot-on as a nihilistic German or the apoplectic caregiver of Arthur Digby Sellers, who, as any fan of the film knows, “wrote the majority of the Branded series” and “now suffers from health problems”.
This kind of esoterica delighted a crowd so well-versed in film they hollered along with key nuggets of dialogue. A few subtle differences did emerge between the original script and the version everyone knows and loves; at one point the Dude lets a sheriff know that Jackie Treehorn “treats women like objects”, rather than Bridges’ improv zinger (that he “treats objects like women”). Yet by and large it was the Coens’ words which emerged as the real star of the show, despite some highly luminous competition. Though, of course, that’s just, like, my opinion, man.
