Horribly Overrated

Rating: 1/10 (1 August 2001)

Fight Club is the most over-rated movie I have ever seen (barely beating out Gladiator). It is also one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Its only redeeming quality is if you take it as an examination of mob mentality in a group of reprobates - except in that light, its quality ends up seeming like someone's final project for their high school psychology class (as in, amateurish and not very detailed).
People talk about its "depth". My answer to that is, "What Depth?".
I have no problem with its premise - people are dissatisfied. Hey, I could handle "The computers that rule the future can build a nearly-indestructible attack robot out of liquid metal" in Terminator 2, dissatisfied people is nothing. Even the incorrect placement of blame is believable.
What bothers me, though, is that the movie attempts to pass itself off as an accurate portrayal of the real world. I'm not saying there aren't people like that. What I'm saying is that they aren't right. They aren't automatons, they're unambitious. They aren't "suppressed by an overly-materialistic society". They're just whining and looking for someone else to blame for their problems. I have an easier time believing Marx's nonsense about class identity than I do the things this film tries to pass off as "meaningful social commentary".
Fight Club doesn't have a social message. Fight Club isn't entertaining.
Don't watch Fight Club.