Brilliant but flawed -- still a must-see

Rating: Null/10 (23 October 1999)

Wow! It's hard to know what to think about this movie. It's got great visuals -- Fincher is the master of the dark. The dialogue is great, especially the funny and ironic narration provided in voiceover by Edward Norton, who gives another knockout performance (no pun intended). Brad Pitt is back in great form too. And Helena Bonham Carter, whom I had only seen in Merchant-Ivory type stuff, is a revelation here, though her part is not too well drawn. The hilarious scenes where Norton, out of boredom, makes the rounds of various 12-step groups are worth the price of admission. The fight club premise of the movie is interesting at the start -- in the line of angry white male movies that started with "Falling Down" -- but it goes over the edge toward the end and it's not clear if this is drama, satire, fantasy, or comedy. Then comes an absurd plot twist that pulls the rug out from under the whole movie -- the worst ending since Kevin Costner in "No Way Out." Still, the movie has many pleasures and it's a joy to see Fincher at work -- he seemed to have so much fun making this movie that he can barely be contained by the medium. (The self reference to movies are among the pleasures. It's the first movie I've seen that points out the little signal for the projectionist to change reels. I also liked the "little flashback humor.")