Good that it tries something different. Bad that it fails.

Rating: 1/10 (28 May 2002)

Yes, this movie is quite different. However, aside from the possibility that no one's done it before because they weren't smart/inspired/good enough to, there's also the other one. This is a movie that fails so remarkably, you almost have to be a genius to come up with such a failure.
In the one excellent scene in this movie, Edward Norton, flying on a plane from one of his constant business trips cracks a joke to his neighbour, Brad Pitt (aka Tyler Durden, here). "very clever." Pitt replies "how is that going for you?"
That is both funny and poignant. The rest of the movie, however, is neither. In fact, it's just the same as poor Ed Norton - too clever for its own good.
Worse yet is the reaction this movie seems to cause. Many of the others commented (and other people who've seen this movie) think that Tyler Durden is somehow the voice of good, a positive role model, if you will. And some people are completely nuts about this movie, they quote it day and night and I don't know, it's just weird.
And then there's the ending. I can't give it away, but the best thing that I can say about it is that it is gimmicky. It's also pretty implausible, doesn't fit with the rest of the story and involves blowing up skyscrapers (something we now know is not a very good idea).
If you're going to make a clever movie with a clever surprise ending, fine. It's possible to make a good one - The Usual Suspects for example. But having a clever movie that isn't clever enough to make sure the movie still makes any sense when the ending is revealed? A clever movie whose message is how empty cleverness is? A clever message movie? Where the message is delivered by someone who's obviously, shall we say, not very emotionally/mentally stable, to say the least?
I guess you could say it's irony, but then with the same success you can say that "Domestic Disturbance" is a movie that makes one think 'cause it makes you think what the heck you're doing watching/paying for such an awful movie.
Having said all that, this is a movie that could have been partially rescued by having a lead actress who is stunningly beautiful. Unfortunately, Helena Bonham Carter isn't.
Okay, maybe it's not the most overrated movie on IMDb - after all "The Shwshank Redemption" is ranked #2 and "Kingpin" is not even on the bottom 100 at all. But it's pretty close.
1/10. And that high only cause it took so much effort.