Date of Release to Theaters: October 15, 1999

Date of Release to Video: Not yet.

Running Time: 139 Minutes

Rated: R (for extreme violence and sexuality)

Released by: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Drama

Producer: Art Linson, Cean Chaffin, Ross Grayson Bell

Executive Producer: Arnon Milchan

Associate Producer: John S. Dorsey

Writer: Jim Uhls (based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk)

Director: David Fincher

Cast:

Narrator: Edward Norton

Tyler Durden: Brad Pitt

Marla Singer: Helena Bonham Carter

Robert (Bob) Paulsen: Meat Loaf Aday

Angel Face: Jared Leto

"Fight Club" is one very, very, very, extremely strange movie, folks. We're talking really weird here. There are so many underlying facets of psycho-ness (if that's a word) that I don't even know where or how to begin to describe this movie…but I'll try.

The nameless Narrator (Edward Norton), (who I'll refer to as "Nameless" for the rest of this review), while living a plain, boring, depressing, insomniac existence, meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) whose life is "exactly" the opposite of his own. After Nameless's condo mysteriously explodes and destroys all of his treasured worldly possessions, Nameless contacts Tyler in hopes of a place to stay for a while. For fun, Tyler starts a somewhat harmless fistfight with Nameless that they both seen to enjoy very much. Nameless moves in with Tyler into a run-down, dilapidated, probably condemned building in the middle of the industrialized part of town, far away from the public's eye especially in the middle of the night. Through Tyler's insistence and manipulation, Nameless totally turns his life around and becomes someone he never was…or at least never appeared to be…a crude, coarse, rugged, violent, disturbed, twisted individual. The fistfights that Tyler and Nameless continue to enjoy begin to stimulate the growing crowds to eventually join in and follow the rules that Tyler and Nameless insist upon...and "Fight Club" is born.

There's a heck of a lot more to this movie than the above two paragraphs, but to describe anything beyond what I've already written might spoil it for you…so I won't. I will add one thing…if you've seen "American Beauty" or read my review of it (or anyone else's for that matter), you know that everyone in it was living pretty much on the edge. Well, the characters in "Fight Club" make the characters in "American Beauty" look like "It’s a Small, Small World" ride at Disneyland…pretty tame to say the least.

If you don't mind seeing a psychologically disturbing, graphically violent movie, then "Fight Club" is for you. The writer, director and actors do their jobs well. But I did not give it a very high grade because, personally, I would rather have not seen it.

Grade: C

E-Mail Teri Your Thoughts! TeriCrosby@aol.com