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Fight Club poster

Fight Club

year 1999decade 90sdirector David Finchergenre Dramagenre Thriller

139 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Edward Norton The Narrator
Brad Pitt Tyler Durden
Helena Bonham Carter Marla Singer
Meat Loaf Robert Paulson
Jared Leto Angel Face
Holt McCallany The Mechanic
Zach Grenier Richard Chesler
Eion Bailey Ricky
Thom Gossom Jr. Detective Stern

Fight Club | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanproducer Craig Horlbeckproducer Kyle Crichton
Explore episodeClose episode

Most Rewatchable Scene

The bar and first fight; Tyler's speech through the stranger-fight and Project Mayhem montages

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:49:14Read transcript
  • The semi-opening insomnia and IKEA-catalog setup works like a narrator blog post of the life he hates.
  • The first 32 minutes, through the title sequence, support groups, meeting Marla, the plane fantasy, Bob and meeting Tyler, are relentless, with one-frame Pitt flashes.
  • The second Tyler scene, where the things you own end up owning you, leads to the first fight; Fincher told Norton to actually hit Pitt in the ear so the reaction is genuine.
  • Tyler's speech to the fight club and the fight with Lou are highlighted; the speech is played.
  • The most rewatchable stretch is Tyler's speech through the stranger-fight montage, the narrator fighting himself in the boss's office and the first Project Mayhem montage, about 20 minutes.
  • Combined, that is the first hour, which still makes the hair stand up even though the film quickly became a cliche of itself in bathroom stalls and MySpace bios.
  • The car accident is a half-rewatchable scene, shot uniquely.
  • The hotel-room reveal that the narrator is Tyler is hard to overstate, followed by chasing Tyler around the map, the final Pitt-Norton scene and the Pixies ending.
  • The other pick is the bar and first fight; the twist ages best among the era's twist movies but matters least, because the first hour and a half works as a relationship drama.
  • The speech, the Lou cameo and the stranger-fight montage section is endorsed as the choice.

What’s Aged the Best?

The twist; the DVD; the shirtless Pitt image; 'His name is Robert Paulson'; the narration; Fincher's timing and nameless city; Marla's glass-slipper line; the rules of Fight Club; the Pixies ending

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:21Read transcript
  • The twist ages best because rewatching means hunting for clues, such as identical suitcases; someone online counted 27 hints.
  • The DVD ages best: the 99-2000 era of double discs, director commentary and deleted scenes.
  • The famous shirtless-Pitt fight image is the one picture always associated with the movie.
  • 'His name is Robert Paulson' was dropped into old football-pick columns after two theater viewings, and is proposed as a crowd chant at free throws.
  • The support-group material is too long and could be 30 seconds, though its aphoristic narration is the first clue the narrator and Tyler are the same.
  • Despite a dislike of narrators, the narration could not work better here.
  • Fincher's timing, catching the moment again with The Social Network, and the nameless always-raining, empty Fincher City are praised; he should have directed Escape from New York.
  • Marla's line that the condom is the glass slipper of our generation is a favorite.
  • The eight rules of Fight Club are read, with jokes about adding two more to reach ten.
  • The Pixies ending was undersold in aged best; it was a thrill in the theater and a perfect song choice, though it also gives away the movie.

What’s Aged the Worst?

The twist's lost surprise; fleeting self-fight shots; now-untouchable satire; disinformation and mischief boxes; 15 minutes too long; Leto's beating; Project Mayhem after January 6

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:41Read transcript
  • The twist ages worst because everyone knows it now and no one gets the first-time rush; a producer's generation may still get it.
  • The self-fighting scenes are shown only fleetingly because the visual does not really work.
  • It satirizes things people would now be afraid to touch; the headquarters boxes labeled disinformation and mischief feel like a perfect combo for 2021.
  • It is 15 minutes too long and could have been about two hours five or ten.
  • Leto getting destroyed is tough to watch; an original version reportedly had rivers of blood and a caved-in face.
  • All the Project Mayhem material is creepy after January 6.
  • Helena Bonham Carter is proposed for aged worst and contested; the other side has her more in aged best.
  • The case against her: Marla is a home-run part that in stronger hands earns an Oscar nomination over the 1999 supporting-actress field, though the character lacks agency and mostly reacts.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:14:05Read transcript
  • Meatloaf is the pick: a campy 70s rock star people had given up on pops up in three or four scenes as bitch tits.
  • Chloe the cancer patient and her speech is offered as another candidate.
  • Jared Leto was a big deal at the time for being disfigured and blond, but on rewatch he did not stand out; he is better in Panic Room.

Apex Mountain

Edward Norton; 1999 movie twists; Helena Bonham Carter; fight clubs; IKEA

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 01:21:50Read transcript
  • Brad Pitt is not at Apex because the movie was not that successful.
  • Ed Norton is at Apex: this rounds out his six-movie run, and he has arguably never been as big a star since, unlike Pitt.
  • Fincher's Apex is still The Social Network; Generation X is a no.
  • Rosie O'Donnell is a maybe, with her peak placed later in her feud on The View.
  • Movie twists peaked this year, with this, The Sixth Sense and Blair Witch, before the internet could spoil them.
  • Helena Bonham Carter is a yes, though still not loved in this movie.
  • The Pixies are a no, peaking around 91; the ending song started a trend of closing with a pop song.
  • IKEA is at Apex in the late 90s.
  • Unreliable narrators are a no despite enjoying the device in this, Memento and Goodfellas.
  • Fight clubs definitely peaked then; blown-up apartments probably not; Jared Leto no; Meatloaf peaked in the 70s with Paradise by the Dashboard Light.

Who Won the Movie?

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:32:12Read transcript
  • Pitt wins: a rock-star performance where the movie jumps whenever he is on screen; Norton or Fincher would be heard.
  • With Norton as bronze, the choice is between Pitt and Fincher, and Pitt needed it more.
  • A case exists for Fincher, whose meticulous set dressing made it a film only he could make, but Pitt's iconic 90s performance lifted his career.
  • Damon could have played either part, and Crowe could have done Tyler, but no modern actor would gamble their career like this.
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