Am I the only one who caught the humor?

Rating: 8/10 (18 July 2000)

Quite a lot has been written about this film, both good and bad, and I can't help feeling that most people took it too seriously to notice how extremely funny it is.
"Fight Club" is a wickedly hilarious satire that skewers every aspect of post-industrial society. From 12-step programs to the aggression-therapy men's movement, from conspicuous consumerism to black-clad anarchists, from Freud to Nietzsche to New Age psychology... you get the idea. The dialogue is packed with memorable and funny lines. Pitt and Norton had several humorous asides, and Norton performed a little bit of brilliant slapstick. This had me laughing more than most movies which are marketed as comedies.
Many movies have poked fun at the yuppie lifestyle (few as brilliantly and thoroughly) but here we are not presented with politically correct good guys like we were in "American Beauty". The satire in "Fight Club" spares no one. As Tyler Durden says, we don't have a great war or a great depression in this generation. The loss of our individuality to the corporate lifestyle is THE big issue in civilization today, and few movies have made the case as convincingly, or as humorously, as this one.
Some have commented that "Fight Club" glorifies violence and male aggression. I disagree completely. Yes, the movie mocks the demasculation of men in today's world. But the men of Fight Club are shown to be sado-masochistic thugs, conformists with fascist tendencies, mindless followers, latent homosexuals, and ultimately insane... Hardly a ringing endorsement. Tyler Durden is an appealing anti-hero, but he's also stark raving mad and extremely manipulative. This does not glorify violence... it shows how people are driven to violence.
(Minor spoilers ahead...)
I didn't care much for the ending, but not for the reasons which have often been cited. Who cares if it's implausible? The entire movie is unrealistic if taken literally (Bombs from soap?) Everything is exaggerated and distorted. But the ending puts the focus on the psychology of an individual, rather than on sociology-- power and violence-- which is where David Fincher had the most interesting things to say. It also opens the door for not-so-bright folks to get the impression that Fincher wants them to go out and start a revolution, which I seriously doubt.
Overall, however, a very good movie. Don't take it so seriously that you miss all the fun.