Tired of Crappy Movies like American Beauty? Give "Oscar Worthy" Fight Club A Try.

Rating: 10/10 (30 June 2000)

Soap, mischief, mayhem, movie making genius. Once again, Hollywood has proven that the Oscar's do not mean crap. Fight Club is the soap that cleanses theaters of such "high tech" garbage as Independence Day and such unreal garbage as American Beauty (want to see a real disturbing look at society, try the Ice Storm). Fight Club is blend of surreal images, moody backdrops, viewer/narrator interaction, incredible music,dark humor, and soap. Just the opening sequence alone (perhaps the best ever, giving new meaning to "in medias res") will cause you to salivate like a rabid canine. Oh, I did mention this is a political film? Anyways, the premise seems simple enough. The narrator of the film, who we will call "Jack," is an insomniac trapped in a dead-end, worker bee, corporate job. The only other important aspect of Jack's life is his condo filled with clever art, Swedish furniture, and a refrigerator full of condiments. That is, until Jack meets Tyler Durden, an eccentric fellow he meets on an air plane. Jack soon learns that Tyler is full of "useful information." There are two insanely glorious scenes that take place during and after his meeting with Tyler. Once scene involves a new look at airline emergency manuals and the other involves a hilarious look at dildos and vibrating luggage-- not to be missed. Anyways, enough about the plot. The film is one big Goodyear blimp full of anti-corporate messages and the lie of the "so-called information age." In fact, it find it totally amazing this film even made it to theaters! The same corporate mush heads who the film admonishes are the same people who finance this picture (the fine people at Fox, "when corporate scumbags attack!! Next on Fox.) This is,however, the same reason Fight Club hopped in and out of the theater and failed to gain ol' Oscar's attention. In fact, if you see the trailers for the movie, it looks like "See Brad Pitt fight, see Brad Pitt take off his shirt, see Fight Club." They tried to sell the movie for everything it wasn't. The movie is a sharp, brutally honest, social commentary, and the acting was phenomenal. Ed Norton is incredible as always, and Brad Pitt plays Tyler to perfection. They originally thought of casting Sean Penn as Tyler, but believe me only Brad could have pulled this one off. Fight Club, Three Kings, Being John Malkovich are three films that have raised my expectations of film making; they are what Hollywood should be. But of course like any film with a message, with intelligent writing, that makes people think and question ends up in the La Brea Tar pit of Hollywood. So until Oscar finds the many creative uses of soap (watch the film), it is up to you to discover what great movie making is all about.