Top 10 Lazy Movie Characters

In celebration of National Lazy Day, we’re counting down our favorite slackers.

You know that feeling when it’s 8:00 PM on a Sunday, you haven’t moved off of your couch or changed out of the clothes you slept in, and you’re kind of disgusted with yourself but are also about to turn on your third movie of the day and keep the hangout rolling? If you’re like us, you know that feeling all too well, and there truly are few things better than those days of less than zero productivity. Fortunately — or maybe, unfortunately — we all eventually reach our limit of unabashed laziness and go back to life in the real world.

This list goes out to our favorite movie characters who do not possess such a limit.

10. Sutter – The Spectacular Now


There is something to be said about the excitement of procrastinating on school work. However, when a film opens with a character narrating about how he is just now writing his long overdue college application essay, we have to wonder about his motivations.

9. Humans – Wall-E


When you humans get so lazy that they have now invented reclining chairs to hover them around instead of walking, you know there’s a problem.

8. Momma Dixon – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri


Ever been stationary for so long that when you fall asleep, a tortoise can crawl across your lap and you don’t even wake up? Doubt it. Honestly though, given that she lives in Ebbing, Missouri, it’s hard to blame Momma Dixon for not doing much.

7. Ben Braddock – The Graduate


Ben really made sure to take advantage of the summer following his college graduation. Throughout the film, we see Ben doing all kinds of chilling; swimming in the pool, drinking in the pool, sleeping in the pool. You get the point. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, for him, an affair with Mrs. Robinson (you know, the one from the Simon and Garfunkel song) brought some excitement to his life. So here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson.

6/5. Phil & Bubba – The Good Girl

Sure, it may be hard to find things to do in Mike White and Miguel Arteta’s version of what life in a small town in middle America looks like, but Phil and Bubba could at least fake to be trying to find new active activities beyond smoking pot and watching TV.

4. Ray – In Bruges


When one thinks of a professional assassin, what traits come to mind? Evil, tactful, precise, industrious, diligent. Unfortunately for him, Ray doesn’t occupy many of these traits, and it’s probably for a lack of trying. While he may have a bit of an excuse since he’s hiding out from his boss after accidentally killing a young boy, it still isn’t beyond reason to except his partner’s invitations to sightsee in one of the most beautiful cities on earth, instead of wallowing in self pity back in the hotel room.

3. Melanie – Jackie Brown


Let’s take a look at the script for a second.

Ordell Robbie: You know you smoke too much of that shit, that shit gonna rob you of your own ambition.
Melanie: Not if your ambition is to get high and watch TV.

No further explanation needed.

2. Floyd – True Romance


In Quentin Tarantino’s original script, Floyd wasn’t exactly the couch potato we see him as in the finished film. It was actually Brad Pitt’s idea to make Floyd a stoner who never leaves the couch. While we always have faith in Tarantino’s writing, we have Pitt to thank for giving us this awesomely lazy character that we won’t soon be forgetting.

1. The Dude – The Big Lebowski


When the opening voiceover for a film describes the main character as, “That’s the Dude, in Los Angeles. And even if he’s a lazy man – and the Dude was most certainly that. Quite possibly the laziest in Los Angeles County, which would place him high in the runnin’ for laziest worldwide,” you know you’re in for a lazy, if not astoundingly entertaining, ride. The Big Lebowski may have just turned 20 this past Sunday, but hanging out with The Dude for 119 minutes in this Coen brothers classic hasn’t gotten old. Portrayed by Jeff Bridges’ in an iconic performance, The Dude’s unabashed commitment to doing nothing productive is quite honestly something to admire, and when the credits roll, we too have been inspired to do nothing. ​

By: Quinten Sansosti

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