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. — Bill Simmons
Damon could have played either part, and Crowe could have done Tyler, but no modern actor would gamble their career like this. — Bill Simmons
Narrator's name is Jack; anti-hero origins; MMA ruining Fight Club; Fight Club doping; Reddit and Twitter replacing Fight Club; NBA players in Fight Club; Tyler Durden cult of personality
The narrator's name is considered answered as Jack, per the original screenplay, Norton's commentary and press materials. — Bill Simmons
The movie did not create the anti-hero, since most viewers see Norton's character as a nice guy. — Bill Simmons
MMA training would have ruined Fight Club by 2004, with chokes replacing punches; a doping controversy and a Players' Tribune retirement are joked about. — Bill Simmons
Reddit and Twitter absorbed the space for cultish devotion and anonymous fighting. — Bill Simmons
Famous players could join; Kevin Durant, Kyrie, Bobby Portis and a Balkan fight club are joked about. — Bill Simmons
The Trump-Tyler Durden cult-of-personality parallel: tapping loneliness and offering an alternate path that leads nowhere. — Chris Ryan
Unreliable narrators are a no despite enjoying the device in this, Memento and Goodfellas. — Chris Ryan
Fight clubs definitely peaked then; blown-up apartments probably not; Jared Leto no; Meatloaf peaked in the 70s with Paradise by the Dashboard Light. — Bill Simmons
The semi-opening insomnia and IKEA-catalog setup works like a narrator blog post of the life he hates. — Bill Simmons
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. — Chris Ryan
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. — Bill Simmons
Tyler's speech to the fight club and the fight with Lou are highlighted; the speech is played. — Bill Simmons
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. — Bill Simmons
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. — Chris Ryan
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. — Chris Ryan
The speech, the Lou cameo and the stranger-fight montage section is endorsed as the choice. — Bill Simmons
The studio wanted Matt Damon or Sean Penn for the narrator while Fincher wanted Norton; Norton was also up for The Talented Mr. Ripley, Man on the Moon and Runaway Jury in a casting merry-go-round. — Bill Simmons
An alternate universe where Damon does Fight Club and Norton does The Talented Mr. Ripley is fun to imagine, though Damon's Ripley is one of his best roles. — Bill Simmons
Norton and Damon competed for The Rainmaker, Coppola steered Norton to American History X, and Damon has said he was devastated to miss Primal Fear; Scent of a Woman went to Chris O'Donnell. — Chris Ryan
Damon brings relatability and Norton a cerebral quality; Damon could have played either part, Pitt only Tyler, and Norton not Tyler. — Chris Ryan
Leo was a little young post-Titanic but this would have been his dream part a few years later; Pitt's casting works because he is who guys daydreamed of being. — Chris Ryan
Crowe was about to go on his Gladiator-Insider-Beautiful Mind run and would have crushed the part with an Aussie hooligan authenticity, though Pitt is still preferred. — Bill Simmons
Fincher's first choice for Marla was Janine Garofalo; she reportedly accepted, then was dropped as not right for the role at Norton's urging, framed as the birth of the behind-the-scenes Norton monster. — Bill Simmons
Per Variety, Sarah Michelle Geller was sought but was doing Buffy; the studio wanted Reese Witherspoon, whom Fincher thought too young, and then Courtney Love, who was dating Norton, before landing on Bonham Carter. — Bill Simmons
Marla is said to have Courtney Love meets Joan Crawford energy, leading to a tangent about loving the band's 90s songs. — Bill Simmons
Fincher wanted Radiohead to score the film; it would have been eerier and more somber than the Dust Brothers' electronic score, not necessarily better, though the movie needs the Dust Brothers' energy. — Chris Ryan
Asked who won the movie, the answer comes in three parts: number three is Rodrigo Preeto for a beautiful-looking movie. — Wesley Morris
An interjection claims the answerer has come all the way around and now counts this among their favorite Spike Lee movies. — Bill Simmons
Number two is Terrence Blanchard for the mournful, restrained score, compared with his sometimes too-bright, major-key scores in the vein of Aaron Copeland. — Wesley Morris
Number one is Spike Lee, who directs with his hands in his pockets and focuses on the moral matter at hand, unlike other films where other interests compete, as in Inside Man. — Wesley Morris
A second pick: Spike, hands down; nobody could have directed it better, though a 1990s-early-2000s Scorsese version (the Bringing Out the Dead era) would have been fascinating, and the director needs a real connection to New York. — Bill Simmons
A suggestion: a first-time director, 25 to 33 years old, might have brought the rawness that the restraint keeps out; the restraint leaves the viewer a spectator like Norton and Pepper looking down on the dancers. — Wesley Morris
Is the movie better with Matt Damon in the Barry Pepper part? Reasons: whether he would be better, whether it is a fun new role for him, and whether a Rounders-reunion cast with Norton, Hoffman and Spike Lee raises its Oscar ceiling; this is asked while liking Pepper. — Bill Simmons
A reply: Damon changes the stakes and would require fleshing the character out more; Pepper became a better actor as the decade went on. — Wesley Morris
Another view: it is probably a longer movie but taken more seriously as an awards movie because of the names. — Bill Simmons
Pepper's career is reviewed, with his run ending after this period; playing a role in Battlefield Earth alongside Travolta is called a red flag, but he is called a good actor and great in this movie. — Bill Simmons
What is the Hoffman character's Monday like? Awkward, probably handing in his resignation. — Bill Simmons
Will Rosario Dawson's character be waiting when Monty gets out in seven years? The answer is no, she is long gone, and the dad is probably dead. — Bill Simmons
What is her job? It is unclear; maybe a waitress, maybe a student, since she was 17 when they met, the same age as the Anna Pacquin character. — Wesley Morris
For Ed Norton, coming off Red Dragon into this movie is considered, but because this film was not very successful the answer moves from "probably Fight Club" to "It's definitely Fight Club," since he had the most juice after Fight Club, which came a year after his American History X nomination. — Wesley Morris
Afterward his choices seemed like diminishing returns, including the in-between Hulk movie rather than the Angley version with Eric Bona. — Wesley Morris
Norton is called one of the best and for a while the most exciting actor, but the pressure to make good choices and the needs of ego and career locked him into a pattern; Birdman let him lean into that ego. — Wesley Morris
Movies where 9/11 is a character is a yes: this is called the signature 9/11 movie even though it is not about 9/11, a no-brainer. — Bill Simmons
Barry Pepper is saved for later; his run from 1998 to 2002 (Saving Private Ryan, Enemy of the State, 61, Knock Around Guys, 25th Hour) leads to "his Apex Mountain was probably 61," after which he seemed headed for leading roles that never came. — Bill Simmons
Clay Davis casting; Spike Lee and Rosario Dawson tandem; Norton and Hoffman career timing; the score; three-dimensional cops and Feds; Cool Hand Luke poster; the title
Clay Davis as the agent is the first item. — Bill Simmons
The Spike Lee and Rosario Dawson tandem holds up; she is felt to be at her best in his movies, including He Got Game, maybe across three films together. — Bill Simmons
The point in their careers at which the film catches Norton and Hoffman has aged well, and the music is included. — Bill Simmons
Spike Lee's constant distrust of cops, Feds and the D.A. is called understandable, and they are always three-dimensional characters rather than simple bad guys; Inside Man's police hierarchy is a favorite example. — Bill Simmons
The Cool Hand Luke poster in Norton's apartment is great, big and unusually sized; a search for it came up empty. — Bill Simmons
The title 25th Hour, taken from the book, is a strong idea for a title. — Bill Simmons
The opening credits are great and a little emotional, and the opening scene of deciding whether to save the wounded dog sets up the question of whether somebody can be saved. — Bill Simmons
An internet theory that the wounded dog resembles America after 9/11 is mentioned but called a little too English-literature to fully buy. — Bill Simmons
The Feds busting Monty for the drugs in his couch is highly rewatchable because Isaiah Whitlock, Jr. is essentially Clay Davis from The Wire as a drug agent. — Bill Simmons
The big bathroom speech insults every part of New York before turning on Monty himself.
The hosts report that Disney wanted to cut the bathroom scene and that Spike and Benioff refused, with Spike calling it one of the reasons he wanted to make the movie. — Bill Simmons
Pepper and Hoffman looking over Ground Zero and arguing about Monty is a great scene with two great actors; the Ground Zero imagery is described as jarring and alarming, with touches like "fuck the Times, I read the Post." — Bill Simmons
Other favorites: the bar scene with Rosario Dawson, Pepper and Hoffman where the bartender invites them to her birthday party; Pepper trying to figure out whether Dawson flipped; Monty deciding not to kill his associate and handing him to the Russians. — Bill Simmons
Frank beating up Monty is called some of the best directing of Spike Lee's career: wide shots, silence except park sounds, and alternating slow motion and live action; it is intense rather than fun. — Bill Simmons
The dream sequence narrated by Brian Cox of the life Monty could have had is praised; a counterview would ask to cut that fantasy montage and end on Monty's face in the car, keeping that last shot. — Bill Simmons
Producer Craig's favorite scene in the movie is said to be the montage; the old-age makeup on Rosario Dawson and Edward Norton is praised, and the imagined kids resemble her more than him. — Wesley Morris
Asked for a most rewatchable scene, the answer is the nightclub sequence, counted at 24 minutes from entering the club to leaving, with the sound design best heard on good headphones. — Wesley Morris
The reply agrees: the sound was incredible on better speakers, and from the Patrice O'Neill bouncer moment through leaving the bar is the best part of the movie. — Bill Simmons
Comparisons are drawn to busy Michael Man scenes in Collateral and Miami Vice, and Spike is called a good chaos director, as in Inside Man, though not when chaos is the point, as in Old Boy. — Bill Simmons
The club is read as a purgatory with three levels (heaven, hell, purgatory); the film withholds the pleasure a morally unrestrained, maybe pre-9/11 movie would indulge, including the Hoffman-Pacquin encounter and the women dancing. — Wesley Morris
While the women dance above, Norton and Pepper discuss whether his girlfriend ratted him out, with his associate pushing that suspicion; the trust-your-partner plot is always welcome. — Wesley Morris
