Fight Club (1999)
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80% of critics liked it
(158 reviews) -
95% of users liked it
(965,529 ratings)
In this darkly comic drama, Edward Norton stars as a depressed young man (named in the credits only as "Narrator") who has become a small cog in the world of big business. He doesn't like his work and gets no sense of reward from it, attempting instead to drown his sorrows by putting… More In this darkly comic drama, Edward Norton stars as a depressed young man (named in the credits only as "Narrator") who has become a small cog in the world of big business. He doesn't like his work and gets no sense of reward from it, attempting instead to drown his sorrows by putting together the "perfect" apartment. He can't sleep and feels alienated from the world at large; he's become so desperate to relate to others that he's taken to visiting support groups for patients with terminal diseases so that he'll have people to talk to. One day on a business flight, he discovers Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), a charming iconoclast who sells soap. Tyler doesn't put much stock in the materialistic world, and he believes that one can learn a great deal through pain, misfortune, and chaos. Tyler cheerfully challenges his new friend to a fight. Our Narrator finds that bare-knuckle brawling makes him feel more alive than he has in years, and soon the two become friends and roommates, meeting informally to fight once a week. As more men join in, the "fight club" becomes an underground sensation, even though it's a closely guarded secret among the participants. (First rule: Don't talk about fight club. Second rule: Don't talk about fight club.) But as our Narrator and Tyler bond through violence, a strange situation becomes more complicated when Tyler becomes involved with Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), whom our Narrator became infatuated with when they were both crashing the support-group circuit. Based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club was directed by David Fincher, who previously directed Pitt in the thriller Seven. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- David Fincher
- Written By
- Jim Uhls
- Genres
- Drama, Comedy
R,
- In Theaters
- Oct 15, 1999 Wide
- Studio
- 20th Century Fox
Critic Reviews
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Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine
It is working American Beauty-Susan Faludi territory, that illiberal, impious, inarticulate fringe that threatens the smug American center with an anger that cannot explain itself, can act out its frustrations only in inexplicable violence.
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Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer
Blistering, hallucinatory, often brilliant, the film by David Fincher is a combination punch of social satire and sociopathology.
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Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
Fight Club is an arresting, eventually appalling excursion into social satire by way of punishing violence.
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David Denby, New Yorker
We're meant to take the male bonding and the blood rituals as a protest against the sterility of corporate life and modern design, but Fincher's sadomasochistic kicks overwhelm any possible social critique.
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Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
This is American self-absorption at its finest.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Edward Norton
as Narrator
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Brad Pitt
as Tyler Durden
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Helena Bonham Carter
as Marla Singer
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Meat Loaf
as Big Bob Paulson
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Jared Leto
as Angel Face
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Zach Grenier
as Boss
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Eion Bailey
as Ricky
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Christina Cabot
as Leader at Partners In Positivity
- Markus Redmond
- George Maguire (I)
