Comedy? I think not... But an excellent film!

Rating: Null/10 (2 September 2002)

In watching the DVD version of `Fight Club' with the commentary `on' I was astounded to learn that the creators of the film thought it would be seen as a comedy. They hid behind the thin veil of the term `Dark Comedy' which I personally define as: `A comedy that isn't funny, but if you say it isn't then 'smart' people will frown at you.' During the commentary Edward Norton says something to the effect of `only those people with no senses of humor will think this film isn't a comedy.' Well, Edward, I'm a Comedy writer/director and I'm here to tell you, you and your cohorts have not created a comedy. What clearly happened on the set of `Fight Club' has happened on many sets that I've been apart of, that is, a small group of people got together and agreed upon some `creative vision' and then forgot that it was their JOB to transfer that vision to the audience. I can imagine the discussions: `This is too campy, we should play it straight; I heard that the best comedy is played dramatically. etc. etc. etc.' Or something like it. This was clearly a case of `group dynamic', the same impulse that allows `gangs' of people to commit acts that no individual would do on their own. It is the story teller's FIRST job and (in my opinion) ONLY job to translate the story to an audience that DOES NOT have the benefit of knowing your twist ending OR your `inside jokes'. `Fight Club', while clearly being played tongue in cheek in many scenes, forgot that its subject matter (the decline of modern society to commercialism and the generation of `lost souls' it created) was far too serious a subject matter to be EXPECTED to be seen as funny by the mass viewing audience. Add to that the very violent fight scenes, and `humor' is NOT the first word that comes to mind. It is ironic to me that the director of this film would often misquote Buddhist doctrines to the cast while creating a film with a huge Karmic debt (I have personally witnessed a group of teenage boys creating their own `Fight Club' on the front lawn next door to mine). All this being said, this story (and yes this film) is a VERY excellent one. I was very impressed by the film on the first viewing, though the first thing I said to my wife during the end credits was `You know, there will be groups of teenage boys creating 'Fight Clubs' across America.' (How ironic I was vindicated months later by what I stated earlier.). Overall, this was a cinematic masterpiece, but maybe the bulk of the praise should go to the original author. One useful byproduct of the `group think' it seems was that having the actors think the entire film was a `lark' was actually useful for Brad Pitt's character, who, felt that way about life anyway (an interesting Director's tool I've seen used purposely and for great effect by the way, that of misdirecting an actor's understanding of the `message' of the film so that they play their character more accurately). All this being said, I think the film is one of the best to come around in many years and deserves a deep and repeated viewing by film lovers everywhere. Lastly, a quick hat's off to Arnon Milchan for producing another breathtaking and edgy film (like `Brazil' and and MANY other controversial and challenging films [check out his credits to see what I mean]).