Fight Club (1999)

The FIRST Rule About Fight Club is....
Do NOT TALK About Fight Club

Of course when this action satire directed by David Fincher (Seven, The Social Network) first opened twenty-five years ago to mixed reviews and mediocre box office, it still HEAVILY talked about by a certain segment of the population which just could not get enough of it.  It featured two iconic characters played by Brad Pitt and Edward Norton at the peak of the powers plus a surprising turn by Helena Bonham Carter....along with a game supporting cast including Jared Leto, Holt McCallany, and....Meat Loaf.  (Yup the singer, you read that right)  And the plot?  Well to describe it would be violating the first two rules but let's just say that it all kicks off with the wittily narrated tale of one mild-mannered insurance adjustor (Norton) who is simply having trouble getting to sleep at night....he then meets a mysterious figure named Tyler Durden (Pitt), they decide to begin fighting each other for fun.....and mayhem ensues!  And lots of soap of course.....

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

FIGHT CLUB - 1999

Directed by David Fincher 

Starring Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter, Meat Loaf, Jared Leto, Zach Grenier, Holt McCallany, Eion Bailey, Richmond Arquette, David Andrews, George Maguire, and Eugenie Bondurant

Genre: Satirical Action Comedy (Audio clip)

I remember seeing this on opening night with bunch of guy friends...we all liked it but some of us had WILDLY different interpretations of what it was trying to say than others. Each of us were in our mid '20's and white suburban males around 25 were CLEARLY the target demographic for this movie at the time. We were still a bit impressionable and impulsive and needless to say, I can recall at least one of my friends wanting to actually start a fight club. :o 

It's just that kind of movie and even though I always found it to be brilliant filmmaking by Fincher and crew, that's one thing about this movie which always nagged at me: it's SO much of its time and so articulate about a specific portion of society and the particular gripes this portion of society that it can be interpreted as some sort of "call to arms" for these people. Similar criticisms would be lobbed at Joker twenty years later....very different movies and though I find Fight Club to be a somewhat superior movie, I now feel confidently that in both cases those reactive interpretations were dead-wrong. Joker is a different conversation and I'm more than happy to defend that film's merits but let's stick to Fight Club...

Rule #1: It's a COMEDY. Nothing that occurs within the narrative of this film is meant to be taken at face value nor taken seriously. Yes it's brutal and grim at points but Fincher and screenwriter Jim Uhls never lose sight of the comedic, satirical tone all the way through the end. Seriously...Ed Norton's performance as BLANK just becomes increasingly broadly comic throughout the climax, he's literally running desperately across town in just his boxers and an overcoat...and it's gloriously funny! :) 

Rule #2: The shift that we watch most of our main characters go through from Fight Clubs into a Project Mayhem is NOT presented as a positive or even rewarding experience. ;) They lose their identities and become mindless drones for the most part...we see it in how quickly they start all stating in unison, "His name was Robert Paulson..." and we see it among other things in Jared Leto's absurdly mangled face (after getting pummeled by Norton's character) as he appears in the 3rd act. Speaking of which, I didn't realize that Rob Botin did the make-up effects work until this most recent rewatch....and his work is AMAZING. Dude started his career in a big way with the groundbreaking creature effects for The Thing, he did amazing stuff with Verhoeven in Total Recall and Robocop....and he just kept it going with Fincher with Seven and this a few years later! 

Rule #3: The three lead actors are each fantastic but they're also ALL in on the joke. Pitt is basically playing a somewhat cartoonish version of an idealized version of himself...his character is literally looking at a bus ad showing HIS trademark abs and he deadpans, "Self-improvement is masterbation." :p Norton was already red-hot when this came out just coming off an astounding performance in American History X 

This also remains by FAR David Fincher's funniest movie - it's a technical marvel in how he so seamlessly utilizes CGI and all of the unique angles he pulls off with the camera, yet none of that distracts from the darkly comic tone. Considering how brutal some of the violence gets, I can easily see why so many folks have found it off-putting to watch. There are often Robocop-levels of gore mixed with satire but unlike Robocop, it's serving a story which is much less straightforward...not an easy thing to pull off and though the film occasionally drifts too much into smugness, it generally succeeds. 

Also I'm not gonna lie but there are some dated elements for this film which just don't work as well for me sorry - showing terrorists leveling buildings and sorta playing it for laughs was just never gonna age well considering the 9/11 attacks occurred just two years later, though I can't blame Fincher for that. If nothing else, Fight Club still remains an audacious movie and though I might not love it as much as others my age (and I never had any designs on starting my own Fight Club either), I still have to applaud Fincher for his audaciousness!

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

For starters, there is quite the playful synth/electric guitar-based score conducted throughout by hip-hop/alt-rock producers The Dust Brothers – it’s raucous and goofy in equal measures, often used best during some fun montages. (Audio clip) 

But of course almost universally agreed upon among fans of this movie (myself included), THE musical highlight remains the needle-drop used for the very end of this film…..I can remember rewatching this within a year or so of the 9/11 attacks and it DID feel somewhat more uncomfortable as a result.  But given the passage of time, the Kubrickian irony of it holds up better.  It also helps that Jim Uhl’s screenplay utilizes that VERY convenient trope to explain it all away…..which would become a VERY overused superhero movie cliché less than two decades later….some character has to conveniently tell the protagonist ”No DON’T worry about it, we have folks monitoring EVERY building….it’s late at night and we made sure that nobody is INSIDE of these buildings!” Uh-huh ok….Mr. Feige WHATEVER you say! 

Still it’s just such a FANTASTIC ending, one of the best of the ‘90’s….the low-key declaration from the Narrator to Marla, them holding hands, and of course that last image of the silhouette of them looking out that high-rise window at night as the controlled demolition of about half a dozen high-rises occurs right outside.  It’s just SO ‘90’s…..smarmy, self-congratulatory, nihilistic, yet also KIND of life-affirming….and even a SMIDGE romantic?  I don’t know…on paper it shouldn’t work but it’s so beautifully shot.  AND it has the perfect song…..THE perfect opening guitar riff to playing overhead….and NOT a song from the ‘90’s no less. (Audio clip)  

Nope it’s those alt-rock indie sensations STRAIGT outta Boston The Pixies from their 1988 album, “Surfer Rosa.”  Written and sung by leader Frank Black, featuring killer guitar riffs from Joey Santiago was only a minor hit upon initial release but REALLY built a sizeable following after being heard in this movie…..it has been covered multiple times since then and has sort of become a Generation X anthem.  Bottom line, this is an an all-time needle-drop for an all-time ending….the song….is….”Where Is My Mind.” (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

It’s funny that she just never gets mentioned as much in this film’s legacy as much as the two main leads…..but what stuck out to me upon first viewing the most and still pretty much steals the movie even rewatching this decades later is the bat-shit performance from Helena Bonham Carter which at the time....just seemed to come out of nowhere. :) Up until this point, she had pretty much just played effete characters in British period pieces - it was just SUCH a kick to see her enter this new lane and her performance as sleazy, dime-store dressed support group "tourist" Marla Singer remains one of the most appealing yet unpredictable things she has ever done. 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

Within about 140 minutes pretty much jam-packed with a SLEW of high-energy montages and/or setpieces, there has ALWAYS been one which stood out to me the most….and it’s a beaut!  It occurs RIGHT around the half-way point when Ed Norton’s narrator is called to the office of his perpetually frustrated superior Richard played with spot-on restraint by stalwart character actor Zach Grenier.  And what starts out as a standard dressing-down from a boss to his underling…quickly morphs into something much more outrageous. (Audio clip)

It just gets nuttier and nuttier…..shifting from threatening to reveal company secrets to self-abuse by the protagonist.  Edward Norton demonstrates once again that as a physical actor, he's pretty fearless....he even out Jim Carrey's Jim Carrey at some points basically brutalizing himself in front of his boss in just the right way to implicate his boss.  Violently yanking is own lapel and throwin himself backward into a glass set of shelves.  It’s alternately tense and hysterical….and from THIS point on, Norton kind of justifiably takes over the movie. (Audio clip)

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

Wow….it KIND of feels like a mini-fight club among three VERY strong players trying to determine WHO exactly carries this movie over the finish line.  But I just can’t so I’ll have to go the cop-out route here by selecting all three….sorry I just can’t see this movie working as well as it does without EACH of their unique talents.  Pitt playing Durden is just full-on movie star….a textbook demonstration of Hollywood charisma – he LOOKS amazing, he’s got good swagger, seems convincing with all of the physical stuff, and he just nails every piece of dialogue with the PERFECT degree of “fuck-it” attitude.  (Audio clip) 

Norton’s doing what he has always done best….bringing real wit, humanity, and dimension to a multi-layered character.  And of course we have the director orchestrating all of this chaos into something cohesive and compelling with pure visual flair….there was just NOTHING like this on the big screen back in ’99….nor ’89 nor 2009 if we’re being honest.  For collaborating to deliver the ultimate 1999 movie, David Fincher, Brad Pitt, and Edward Norton are your CO-MVP’s. (Audio clip)       

Final Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

Happy 25th Anniversary to change-overs, beautiful & unique snowflakes, parasite support groups, and….being clever.  

Streaming on Hulu

And that ends another SINGLE SERVING FRIEND review!