One of the best films of 1999.

Rating: 10/10 (2 August 2001)

Edward Norton returns after his earth quaking performance in American History X to play the part of Jack (who has no last name for a reason), a typical white-collar guy who works in an office, makes a good salary, and spends his time trying to find that perfect furniture set or that set of the ideal matching dishes. He lives in an empty world defined by possessions and income  a world that is empty beyond his paycheck and his high rent apartment. He realizes this on a subconscious level and begins to have trouble sleeping, so eventually he goes out and joins support groups for afflictions that he doesn't have, just for the emotional release and the feeling of belonging and of meaning. He almost immediately finds relief to his sleeping problems (`Babies don't sleep this good.'), and makes the support groups a regular activity.
Unfortunately, one day he runs into someone else who is doing the same thing, Marla, and it ruins everything for him. This woman disgusts him (for obvious reasons), but he ultimately tries to reason with her so that they can both do the support group thing and not run into each other. The movie really starts moving when Jack runs into Tyler Durden while on a business trip. They meet on an airplane, and Jack is immediately impressed at what an interesting `single-serving' friend Tyler is. Tyler gives Jack his card, and Jack later calls him after his apartment explodes. Jack goes to stay with Tyler out of necessity, and Tyler introduces Jack to his world. Jack is fascinated.
Tyler lives in a world devoid of personal possessions and responsibilities. He lives in a disgusting house, has no job (no steady one, anyway), pays no bills, and would more than likely be in trouble with the IRS if he were to be audited. He lives below the poverty line, obviously, but he is free, and Jack admires his ability to reject all forms of authority. Out of the blue one day, Tyler asks Jack to hit him, and after some convincing, they get into the fist fight that sets off the chain reaction which results in the formation of the tremendously popular Fight Club, Jack's most violent but most successful support group, a club that grows exponentially despite it's own first two rules.
The goal of Fight Club is to get it's members to analyze their own lives and eliminate unnecessary garbage (`The advertising world has us working jobs we hate, so we can buy sh*t we don't need.') and to obtain psychological freedom through mutually agreed violence between members. Sure, this sounds a little weird, but there really is something to be said about the psychological states obtained from pain. To put it in the immortal words of Beavis & Butt-Head (just after Butt-Head has `smacked Beavis upside the head')  Butt-Head: `That was cool!' Beavis: `No it wasn't, that sucked!' Butt-Head: `Yeah but like, after it's over, doesn't it like, feel pretty cool?' Beavis: `Oh yeah, do that again!' This is not something that is likely to be practiced by everyday society, but a club like Fight Club would probably be successful on many levels (one of which, of course, would not be the legal level). There are a few things in the film that could have done with a little bit more explaining, like why Jack is so interested in fighting William Shatner, but it doesn't matter that this is not explained. Fight Club is one of those movies that not only invites, but also REQUIRES a second viewing, and for countless reasons.
Fight Club asks audiences to re-evaluate their lives, noticing the superfluous quality of the material obsessions of modern society. It is one of the most cinematically unique films to be released in years, and easily earns it's place among the greatest films of 1999 (and possibly of the entire decade), alongside such other classics as The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, and American Beauty, although it has much more in common with the first two. There is an obvious correlation between Fight Club and director David Fincher's previous classic, Seven, which is another spectacular dark film from the same director. Fight Club is definitely aimed at a male audience, and it should actually be commended, in my opinion, for not sacrificing any quality just to attract a larger female audience, which is something that is almost universally seen in Jerry Bruckheimer productions like The Rock and Armageddon and Pearl Harbor.
Fight Club does not pretend to be something it's not, and it comes off with tremendous success. I have heard professional film critics give Fight Club the lowest rating possible, foolishly focusing on the violent aspect of the film and entirely missing the point of the film as a whole while at the same time proving without a doubt that some critics simply cannot be trusted. Be advised that this is an almost stomach-turningly violent film at some points, but instead of condemning the film for that, it should be recognized for fitting that much violence into what is ultimately such a skilled and memorable film. It's too bad that films of this quality are so rarely seen in modern cinema.