Grade:  B+

Director:  David Fincher		Released:  October 1999
Writer:  Jim Uhls, Chuck Palahniuk		MPAA Rating:  R
Players:  Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter		Running time:  139 minutes

Ratings System

It is now impossible to see an Ikea store and not think of this film.  Lucky for me, there's one near my house which I drive past frequently.  I could never buy anything from there without secretly wondering if I was somehow being stripped of my manhood.

A lot of people dismissed Fight Club as an over-the-top, violent affair which failed in its attempt to deliver some sort of message.  Well, I'm here to tell you that it DOES deliver a message, and I don't know why so many folks want to sack it as part of some kind of "masculinity crisis".  It is that, sure, but that's a very real and natural feeling for today's man.  Have you ever tapped into the dark side of your personality?  Ever felt confined and emasculated, knowing that man was not built to sit at a desk all day, that man is supposed to be out there killing sabretooth tigers for dinner?  Fight Club is a reaction to those feelings, it's a demonstration of what some men might do in order to feel "alive" when living in a society where there is no outlet for the inner neanderthal.  And then the film shows us how that type of behavior has no place in our society, that ultimately acting upon those feelings can be harmful to ourselves and those around us.

The topics that Fight Club cover strike me as the type of thing only "real thinkers" like to address.  I imagine David Lynch likes this movie very much.  On another topic, I'm a fan of Fincher's other movies too, so I'm quite excited that he is directing the next Mission: Impossible.  If he can find a way to cast Brad Pitt as the villain, that would really be something.

- crocoPuffs