The Big Lebowski (1998)

A ruined rug sets everything in motion. Joel and Ethan Coen followed "Fargo" with The Big Lebowski, a 1998 shaggy-dog detective story in which Jeff Bridges' unemployed Los Angeles bowler, the Dude, is mistaken for a millionaire of the same name and drawn into a kidnapping involving nihilists, a ferret and a severed toe. John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Turturro fill out the cast, Sam Elliott narrates, Roger Deakins shot it and Carter Burwell scored it. A box-office disappointment on release, it has since entered the Library of Congress' National Film Registry.