1. Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski, The Big Lebowski (1998) The Coen brothers have long had a weakness for dimwits, dupes and dopes with delusions of grandeur (five of their characters show up on this list). But no other Coen creation has so memorably exemplified the filmmakers’ view of what fools these mortals be than Jeff Bridges’s SoCal stoner, an amiable ’60s casualty concerned only with bowling and burning one in his bathrobe. Fate has other plans in store for the Dude when he’s thrust into a shady world of kidnappers, extortionists, Malibu porn moguls and German nihilists—all of whom become increasingly exasperated by Lebowski’s incomprehension and nonsensical blathering. Though the Coens conceived him as a smart-ass riposte to Bogart’s savvy sleuths, their perplexed white knight ends up as an emblem of West Coast flakiness—the kind of Angeleno for whom ambitions or smarts are less important than a peaceful, easy feeling (even though he hates the Eagles). Lebowski may barely understand what’s going on in this parody of noir L.A., but frankly, he’s happier to breeze through life without getting bummed out by the modern world. And if you’re not cool with that, well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.—David Fear Watch now on iTunes Watch now at Amazon Instant Video