Very pretentious and loud: We got the message already, Dave and Chuck! Spoilers!

Rating: Null/10 (1 October 2000)

Norton has a nice, steady job, a wonderful apartment and a bad case of insomnia. All this materialistic riches and he still ain't happy yet. He doesn't really want to go on with this life-style, but what else is there? What's a chap to do? His doctor reacts indifferent to Norton's self-pity and tells him that, if he wants to see people who are really sick, he should visit support groups for men with testicular cancer. He actually does visit one of these groups, even pretends to suffer from the disease as well, and, color me amazed, all the weeping and sobbing have a calming effect on him. The result: "even baby's don't sleep this good". But than a suicidal dark-haired woman starts invading the meetings, and, call it a hunch, he just knows she's faking it, too. Hence, he can't 'enjoy' the group anymore, hence, he can't sleep anymore. On a business-trip, he meets cool, but strangely dressed Tyler Durden, who says things Norton really digs and who is actually everything Norton wanted to be, but couldn't. Durden is unhappy with society and a lot of things he has to say about it hit bull's eye, but some of the things he says fall right of the mark, and are horribly shallow, easy quick fix answers. Durden likes to talk a lot, he likes to hear himself talk (something I can relate to) but to a certain extent, he's past the phase of talking and it's time to walk the walk as well. Support groups for people with sometimes terminal diseases? Been there. Done that. Durden thinks it's time to let his fists talk. So he does. And Norton is calmed by it, sleeping like a baby again. And, apparently, a lot of other people are appealed by this way of therapy, too. Fight Club is born.
When Norton walks through his apartment, which has become a 3-dimensional IKEA-catalogue, complete with the 'witty names' and prices super-imposed over the furniture, I was reminded of Dutch entertainer Youp van 't Hek, well-known for his critical view of modern society; taking a swipe at IKEA is something this guy does often as well. I liked Fight Club so far, but then Durden asks Norton: "Hit me". And from this moment on, I started having problems with this movie. Matter becomes of greater importance than substance. SPOILER ALERT Norton turns out to be the same person as Durden. Norton was a schizo all along. But wait a minute, we saw these two guys interacting and talking in front of other people! Norton isn't a Norman Bates talking with mommy dearest in the basement and hiding his alter ego from the outside world. But it doesn't matter here, because by the time we find out this secret, everything has become larger than life, even more so. The cinematic equivalent of Youp van 't Hek suddenly deciding that the words themselves are suddenly not strong enough anymore. We need loud music. And a light-show. So what if we can't hear what Youp is saying anymore? So what if we are distracted by the visual off-showing? Matter over substance. The point if well made in the first half of the movie, but by then, we have another seventy minutes to sit through. I found myself becoming impatient. In the first half I enjoyed the acting, the nice visual touches (like film-operator Durden inserting a frame of a penis between two reels of a family film), but when things got louder and louder and grander and grander and the film ended with a frame insert of a penis (not merely a subliminal, single frame insert -- I guess because Fincher wanted to be sure the audience couldn't miss it, couldn't miss how witty and great his ideas are), I was tired. Possibly, no, HOPEFULLY the gradual 'larger than life' look and content of this film are meant to reflect the fact that the Fight Club is going too far, is going crazy, has become unrealistic about it goals and the means to achieve them. If not, I really DID see a shallow film full of errors and psychological mistakes about bare-breasted, bare knuckled men having found a so-called philosophical, intellectual excuse (supported by the necessary sarcastic humor) to beat the crap out of each other. Either way, I found myself rapidly growing tired of this film.
For some people this is a subversive film, a cry for things to change, but I like to believe that this is actually a film about tolerance. Be free, do what you want to do, believe who or what you want, but don't shove your opinion through other people's throats. If many people are happy with a certain way of life, if people are happy with not much more than dead end jobs and watching television all night long, let them. They are not ready for something else at the moment -- maybe they'll never be in this life. Force them to live life to the max, to change their lives and you have...sheep once again (just like the members of Fight Club gradually become again). You have the choice not to go on with a dead-end job, not to eat at MacDonalds, not to shop at IKEA, not to drink coffee at Starbucks. Hey, I don't either (drinking at Starbucks would be hard, by the way, because there aren't any branches in Holland), but I'm not judging people who do. Like Michael Jackson once said: "Start with the man in the mirror". That may be a corny phrase, but it's really the most important thing you can do. And, in a lot of cases, the ONLY thing you can do. Don't feel superior to other people (like a lot of pro-Fight Club reviewers on these pages do). Feeling superior, having the urge to change things fast and use a 'quick fix' to 'open other people's eyes' can make things get out of hand pretty fast, as shown in this film and by its surrealistic, chaotic visual style. Definitely not a masterpiece, but not a complete failure either with great acting and cool music to boost.
*** out of ****