Fight Club DVD

David Fincher's adrenaline-fueled adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel is a satirical, absurdist romp highlighted by the director's edgy visual flair.

FIGHT CLUB is narrated by a lonely, unfulfilled young man (Edward Norton) who finds his only comfort in feigning terminal illness and attending disease support groups. Hopping from group to group, he encounters another pretender, or "tourist," the morose Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter), who immediately gets under his skin. However, while returning from a business trip, he meets a more intriguing character--the subversive Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). They become fast friends, bonding over a mutual disgust for corporate consumer-culture hypocrisy. Eventually, the two start Fight Club, which convenes in a bar basement where angry men get to vent their frustrations in brutal, bare-knuckle bouts. Fight Club soon becomes the men's only real priority; when the club starts a cross-country expansion, things start getting really crazy. Like Tyler Durden himself, director David Fincher's FIGHT CLUB, based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, is startlingly aggressive and gleefully mischievous as it skewers the superficiality of American pop culture. Outstanding performances by Norton and Pitt are supported by a razor-sharp script and an arsenal of stunning visual effects that include computer animation and sleight-of-hand editing. One of the most unique films of the late 20th century, FIGHT CLUB is a pitch-black comedy of striking intensity.

Theatrical release: October 15, 1999. FIGHT CLUB premiered at the CMJ Film Festival on September 21, 1999. Filmed in Los Angeles, California. Director David Fincher shot over 1,500 reels of film, which is over three times the usual amount of footage used for most feature-length films. The house on Paper Street was specifically designed for the film and built from the ground up in a deserted industrial zone. Edward Norton's character is actually unnamed, but is sometimes referred to as "Jack," which comes from a medical book he reads in the Paper Street house. In the book, internal body organs speak as characters, saying things like "I am Jack's colon." As the movie progresses, the narrator makes up his own statements such as "I am Jack's raging bile duct." Subliminal images are present throughout the film. Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) flashes onto the screen in four split-second appearances before actually encountering Edward Norton's character. Tyler also briefly appears in a television ad (for an upscale restaurant) that "Jack" watches from his hotel room. Later, Tyler is shown splicing pornographic footage into family films while working in a projection booth. At the end of the film, there's a quick shot of one of these images. Brad Pitt removed the cap from his chipped front tooth for certain scenes. Visual effects supervisor Kevin Scott Mack (who designed the elaborate title sequence) appears as a terrified passenger in the scene where the narrator imagines his plane ripping apart in a mid-air collision. In the house on Paper Street, there's an issue of Movieline magazine with Drew Barrymore on the cover. Barrymore costarred with Norton in Woody Allen's EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU. In addition to the Dust Brothers' score, the film also features the songs "Goin' Out West" by Tom Waits and "Where Is My Mind?" by the Pixies. The Online Film Critics Society named FIGHT CLUB Best DVD, Best DVD Special Features, and Best DVD Commentary; Entertainment Weekly named it the second best DVD of 2000.

Fight Club Quotes/Excerpts:

"Tyler, you are by far the most interesting single serving friend I have ever met. [Pauses] See, I have this thing...everything on a plane is single serving..."--Narrator (Edward Norton) to Tyler (Brad Pitt) "Oh, I get it. It's very clever."--Tyler "Thank you."--Narrator "How's that working out for you?"--Tyler "What?"--Narrator "Being clever."--Tyler "Great."--Narrator "Keep it up then."--Tyler "I say never be complete. I say stop being perfect."--Tyler "The things you own end up owning you."--Tyler "I want you to do me a favor."--Tyler to Narrator "Yeah, sure."--Narrator "I want you to hit me as hard as you can."--Tyler "What?"--Narrator "I want you to hit me...as hard as you can."--Tyler "After fighting, everything else in your life got the volume turned down. You could deal with anything."--Narrator, in voice-over "I am Jack's smirking revenge."--Narrator, in voice-over "Gentlemen, welcome to Fight Club. The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is...you do not talk about Fight Club."--Tyler "You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you. He never wanted you. In all probability, he hates you."--Tyler to Narrator "It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything."--Tyler "The first one through this door gets a...gets a lead salad!"--Narrator, as he waves a gun at police officers "I am Jack's complete lack of surprise."--Narrator, in voice-over

Fight Club Reviews:

"...Stunning, mordantly funny, formally dazzling..." -- Gavin Smith, Film Comment

"...Packed with sizzling cinematics, including (no surprise here) another brilliant Edward Norton performance..."-- Mike Clark, USA Today

"...The movie is visceral and hard-edged, with levels of irony and commentary above and below the action..." -- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

"...[A] bold, inventive, sustained adrenaline rush of a movie....Rarely has a film been so keyed into its time..." -- David Rooney, Variety

"...The film's bold, bruising humor leaves marks on a wide range of hot-button issues....FIGHT CLUB pulls you in, challenges your prejudices, rocks your world and leaves you laughing in the face of an abyss..." -- Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"...Dazzling entertainment..." -- Charles Whitehouse, Sight and Sound

"...FIGHT CLUB is bold, intelligent and thrillingly innovative..." -- 5 out of 5 stars -- Dan Jolin, Total Film

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