The things you own end up owning you.

Rating: 9/10 (14 October 2007)

I wasn't prepared for an existential trip about life. I thought it was just going to be about fighting. I was wrong.
The line in my title grabbed me because I have always thought about "stuff" and how it ties you down. People can't get divorced when the love is gone because of "stuff." People can't move to a better location because of "stuff." "Stuff" is choking us all.
It is like the Kipling poem:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breath a word about your loss;
then you will be a man!
Besides, "stuff." we are chocked by consumerism; which may be the same thing. The film is replete with phallic symbols and decries the femininization of men.
"We're a generation of men raised by women. I'm wondering if another woman is really the answer we need."
Fight Club gives us an emphatic NO to that question. But, then, what is Marla's role? To show us that we are lying to ourselves? Hmmm.
This film had brilliant performances by Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham Carter, under the superb direction of David Fincher. It deserves multiple watchings.