I don't know art but I know what bewilders the @#% out of me

Rating: Null/10 (18 October 2000)

Frankly, the beginning of FIGHT CLUB reminded me of nothing so much as THE BREAKFAST CLUB with that whole middle-class self-absorption, smoldering-within-the-system thing. Even the 30 year old Narrator here seemed like someone that BREAKFAST's teenage narrator Anthony Michael Hall might grow into. Well, I never liked that movie and I wasn't enthused about the first part of this one, clever and self-mocking though it was.
Then the film became a cathartic, innovative mix of grime, humor, sex and bloodshed. The violence wasn't too realistically portrayed, and it did give me pause to wonder if any naive young viewers out there might get the wrong idea about what life would actually be like after getting your head smashed against the floor, but oh well. I've never condemned martial arts films for being even more carefree about that, and I'm sure Jackie Chan movies, much as I love them, have caused more kids to try dangerous stunts than FIGHT CLUB ever will. I loved this part of the story.
And then near the end it took that wacky twist that almost made me spill my drink and left me dumbfounded till the credits rolled. I kept waiting for something to clarify its purpose. Nothing. I didn't think this idea was a cheat - I just can't figure out why it's there! I mean, I still like the film, quite a bit really, but not only does the solution seem pointless, it cuts a few holes in the story. For instance...(SPOILER WARNING) ...the Narrator worked at an office with at least one other Fight Club member. Didn't that guy ever refer to his real name? Marla never addressed him as anything? And didn't her lover see any physical evidence of their relationship - she seems like the kind of woman who'd leave fingernail marks on a man's eyeballs.