Arguably the best movie of 1999.

Rating: 10/10 (16 November 1999)

It was great to see true satire up on the screen after all those films proclaiming themselves as "black comedies" and failing to deliver. This movie was brash, acerbic, gritty and caustic - a comment on our white bread society and all its "Ikea boys". This is arguably the best film to come out of a major studio in 1999. David Fincher is a brave director who plays with the iconography of film to reinvent the language of film. True, the themes of alienation and despair are not new but Fincher takes a new slant on these problems and delivers a metaphysical, brooding tale on the nature of existence, death and one's place in the grand scheme of things. From the production design to the flawless acting, this is a must see - more than once to pick up all the movie references and the symbols. Fincher keeps reminding us that we are watching a film - at one point he shows us the sprocket holes - here, the ideas are important to knock us out of our comfortable seats in the dark. Brad Pitt delivers as does Edward Norton who is fast becoming an actor of discernment and skill. Helena Bonham-Carter finally rips her bodice and throws it away to play the vacuous fantasy toy of the disillusioned male. I loved this film because it does not give easy answers - the Ayn Rand solution rings hollow but Fincher is forcing us to think out our predicament by an assault on our comfortable viewing practices bred by years of films with no vision.