David Fincher, 1999 (8*)
Simply great entertainment, as are most David Fincher films (The Game, Benjamin Button), with a few statements thrown in about nihilism, freedom, anarchy, and self-absorbed insanity. Edward Norton brilliantly plays a bored corporate lackey fed up with his nowhere life. One night he runs into Brad Pitt at a bar and they have a fistfight that has a cathartic effect on each one, so they make it a habit. Others later join in the “good ole boy” mayhem, and they form a club, hence the title. Of course its illegal, so the first two rules are “don’t talk about fight club.”

For me, this was one of Norton’s best performances (well, nothing can top American History X), but I also liked Helena Bonham Carter a lot, totally out of character here as Norton’s nihilistic girlfriend. Eventually the club becomes a gang, with bigger things on their agenda. This film was so hilarious to me, that I found myself the only person laughing out loud in the theater, then I later read that Fincher said “I make comedies yet no one laughs in the theater – they don’t get it.” Well, I did – this is a funny, violent, and influential film that actually spawned fight clubs across the nation. Just one word for all these idiots: boxing! You don’t break your hands or jaws as often and you still get to beat each other senseless if you like that. Yo meatheads, or is it Meatloaves (since he was in this), its just a film!

If you saw the ending coming, you're likely lying, and we might have to go outside!