fight club movie review parents

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Fight Club | 1999 | R | - 7.10.10

SEX/NUDITY 7 - Several instances of sexual innuendo (including references to masturbation and pornographic movies). We hear but don't see two people moaning and yelling while having intercourse for an extended period of time; we also see several used condoms floating in a toilet and a phallic sexual toy. We see some still-frames of a man and woman in sexual positions and a close up of a woman grabbing a man's crotch from behind (he's wearing boxer shorts). A man feels a woman's bare breast to check for lumps (we see the top of her bare breast) and they kiss briefly afterwards. We see a nude man's torso (some pubic hair is visible), full-frontal male nudity for a split-second (it's a single frame that's been spliced into the movie and has no context within the scene it interrupts), a still-frame of a woman's bare breasts and torso, two advertisements featuring a nude male's posterior, a man's bare back as he's bathing and lots of shirtless men. A man with testicular cancer has breasts due to his medication.

VIOLENCE/GORE 10 - We see a slow-motion scene of a man shooting himself in the mouth (the butt of the gun is in his mouth and the bullet appears to exit through his cheek); we see lots of blood on his cheek, neck and clothing. In an extended scene a man pours chemicals onto the back of another's hand and holds his wrist as the skin bubbles and bleeds and the man writhes in pain; in a later scene we see the scar on his hand, and we also see similar scars on a couple of other men's hands. About 15 scenes of men involved in bare-fisted boxing matches: they punch each other in the face, ears and stomach and are sometimes thrown to the ground or against a wall; often they're surrounded by a group of cheering men. The participants in these fights nearly always have at least one very bloody facial cut or have blood on their clothing; we see many men with black eyes, bruised faces, bloody mouths and bandages on their faces. During two of these fights a man's head is beaten on the ground repeatedly and another man's face is punched repeatedly until his face is covered in blood and nearly unrecognizable (he's later seen with a severely bruised, swollen face). A man is thrown against a ticket booth and a car, thrown down a staircase and kicked; in another scene, a man punches himself and throws himself onto a coffee table and into a bookcase (his face and clothing get very bloody). A man imagines the plane he's flying on is hit by another and we see many passengers being sucked out of the plane. A man who was shot in the head and killed is seen lying on a table (we see his very bloody head and clothing). A man's forehead is stitched after a fight (we don't see the wound, but we see the doctor's hand sewing it up). We see a crashed car and a burnt car; men graphically (and jokingly) describe how the passengers were killed and burned to death. A car runs off the road and rolls down a hill (we see the passengers being thrown around while the car is rolling). Several instances of threatening with guns and knives; in two scenes, a man is forcibly held down by several others who remove his pants and threaten to cut off his testicles. Men hit cars with baseballs bats and a sculpture crashes though a storefront's window. A screaming woman is forcefully carried by a group of men. A couple of explosions and fires: in one scene, we see many skyscrapers exploding and in another scene, a room in a building explodes and we see charred furniture appliances on the ground below. We see clear bags filled with bloody human fat; one of the bags breaks open and the fat pours onto a man. A man pulls out a loose tooth. A man spits blood on another and also appears to vomit on him. A man unzips his pants and urinates on food being prepared in a restaurant (it's implied that this is done several times). We see a man sitting on a toilet. We see several cars completely covered in bird feces.

LANGUAGE 10 - Nearly 80 F-words, many anatomical references, many scatological references and numerous mild obscenities.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Fighting, support groups (12-step programs), cancer, insomnia, consumerism, underground hate groups, cults, group-mentality, identity crises, doppelganger, psychology of power.

MESSAGE - We need to honestly confront out own demons in order to figure out who we are, who we want to become, and how to take control of our lives.

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated , Special , Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.

REVIEWS See ratings & reviews at Critics.com

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THE ASSIGNED NUMBERS Unlike the MPAA we do not assign one inscrutable rating based on age but 3 objective ratings for SEX/NUDITY , VIOLENCE/GORE & LANGUAGE on a scale of 0 to 10, from lowest to highest depending on quantity & context | more |

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My thoughts....

This title has:

• Too much violence
• Too much sex

Report this review

Kinda fruity ngl.

• Educational value
• Great messages
• Great role models
• Too much swearing

Good morals

• Too much consumerism

Masterpiece, however their is sex,violence,smoking and language used.

Definitely one to see before you die, but absolutely not for kids, not actually violent, very good, but beware of mature topics., what to watch next.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Requiem for a Dream

Donnie Darko

Thriller movies, movies based on books.

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Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, chaz's journal, great movies, contributors.

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"Fight Club" is the most frankly and cheerfully fascist big-star movie since " Death Wish ," a celebration of violence in which the heroes write themselves a license to drink, smoke, screw and beat one another up.

Sometimes, for variety, they beat up themselves. It's macho porn -- the sex movie Hollywood has been moving toward for years, in which eroticism between the sexes is replaced by all-guy locker-room fights. Women, who have had a lifetime of practice at dealing with little-boy posturing, will instinctively see through it; men may get off on the testosterone rush. The fact that it is very well made and has a great first act certainly clouds the issue.

Edward Norton stars as a depressed urban loner filled up to here with angst. He describes his world in dialogue of sardonic social satire. His life and job are driving him crazy. As a means of dealing with his pain, he seeks out 12-step meetings, where he can hug those less fortunate than himself and find catharsis in their suffering. It is not without irony that the first meeting he attends is for post-surgical victims of testicular cancer, since the whole movie is about guys afraid of losing their cojones.

These early scenes have a nice sly tone; they're narrated by the Norton character in the kind of voice Nathanael West used in Miss Lonelyhearts. He's known only as the Narrator, for reasons later made clear. The meetings are working as a sedative, and his life is marginally manageable when tragedy strikes: He begins to notice Marla (Helena Bonham Carter) at meetings. She's a "tourist" like himself--someone not addicted to anything but meetings. She spoils it for him. He knows he's a faker, but wants to believe everyone else's pain is real.

On an airplane, he has another key encounter, with Tyler Durden ( Brad Pitt ), a man whose manner cuts through the fog. He seems able to see right into the Narrator's soul, and shortly after, when the Narrator's high-rise apartment turns into a fireball, he turns to Tyler for shelter. He gets more than that. He gets in on the ground floor of Fight Club, a secret society of men who meet in order to find freedom and self-realization through beating one another into pulp.

It's at about this point that the movie stops being smart and savage and witty, and turns to some of the most brutal, unremitting, nonstop violence ever filmed. Although sensible people know that if you hit someone with an ungloved hand hard enough, you're going to end up with broken bones, the guys in "Fight Club" have fists of steel, and hammer one another while the sound effects guys beat the hell out of Naugahyde sofas with Ping-Pong paddles. Later, the movie takes still another turn. A lot of recent films seem unsatisfied unless they can add final scenes that redefine the reality of everything that has gone before; call it the Keyser Soze syndrome.

What is all this about? According to Durden, it is about freeing yourself from the shackles of modern life, which imprisons and emasculates men. By being willing to give and receive pain and risk death, Fight Club members find freedom. Movies like " Crash " (1997), must play like cartoons for Durden. He's a shadowy, charismatic figure, able to inspire a legion of men in big cities to descend into the secret cellars of a Fight Club and beat one another up.

Only gradually are the final outlines of his master plan revealed. Is Tyler Durden in fact a leader of men with a useful philosophy? "It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything," he says, sounding like a man who tripped over the Nietzsche display on his way to the coffee bar in Borders. In my opinion, he has no useful truths. He's a bully--Werner Erhard plus S & M, a leather club operator without the decor. None of the Fight Club members grows stronger or freer because of their membership; they're reduced to pathetic cultists. Issue them black shirts and sign them up as skinheads. Whether Durden represents hidden aspects of the male psyche is a question the movie uses as a loophole--but is not able to escape through, because "Fight Club" is not about its ending but about its action.

Of course, "Fight Club" itself does not advocate Durden's philosophy. It is a warning against it, I guess; one critic I like says it makes "a telling point about the bestial nature of man and what can happen when the numbing effects of day-to-day drudgery cause people to go a little crazy." I think it's the numbing effects of movies like this that cause people go to a little crazy. Although sophisticates will be able to rationalize the movie as an argument against the behavior it shows, my guess is that audience will like the behavior but not the argument. Certainly they'll buy tickets because they can see Pitt and Norton pounding on each other; a lot more people will leave this movie and get in fights than will leave it discussing Tyler Durden's moral philosophy. The images in movies like this argue for themselves, and it takes a lot of narration (or Narration) to argue against them.

Lord knows the actors work hard enough. Norton and Pitt go through almost as much physical suffering in this movie as Demi Moore endured in " G.I. Jane ," and Helena Bonham Carter creates a feisty chain-smoking hellcat who is probably so angry because none of the guys thinks having sex with her is as much fun as a broken nose. When you see good actors in a project like this, you wonder if they signed up as an alternative to canyoneering.

The movie was directed by David Fincher and written by Jim Uhls , who adapted the novel by Chuck Palahniuk . In many ways, it's like Fincher's movie " The Game " (1997), with the violence cranked up for teenage boys of all ages. That film was also about a testing process in which a man drowning in capitalism ( Michael Douglas ) has the rug of his life pulled out from under him and has to learn to fight for survival. I admired "The Game" much more than "Fight Club" because it was really about its theme, while the message in "Fight Club" is like bleeding scraps of Socially Redeeming Content thrown to the howling mob.

Fincher is a good director (his work includes "Alien 3," one of the best-looking bad movies I have ever seen, and " Seven ," the grisly and intelligent thriller). With "Fight Club" he seems to be setting himself some kind of a test--how far over the top can he go? The movie is visceral and hard-edged, with levels of irony and commentary above and below the action. If it had all continued in the vein explored in the first act, it might have become a great film. But the second act is pandering and the third is trickery, and whatever Fincher thinks the message is, that's not what most audience members will get. "Fight Club" is a thrill ride masquerading as philosophy--the kind of ride where some people puke and others can't wait to get on again.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Fight Club (1999)

Rated R For Extreme Violence, Sex

139 minutes

Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden

Edward Norton as Narrator

Helena Bonham-Carter as Marla Singer

Meat Loaf Aday as Robert Paulsen

Jared Leto as Angel Face

Directed by

• David Fincher

Based On The Novel by

• Chuck Palahniuk

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October 15, 1999 FILM REVIEW 'Fight Club': Such a Very Long Way From Duvets to Danger Related Articles The New York Times on the Web: Current Film Video Selected Scenes and Trailer From the Film 'Fight Club' Forum Join a Discussion on Current Film By JANET MASLIN f the two current films in which buttoned-down businessmen rebel against middle-class notions of masculinity, David Fincher's savage "Fight Club" is by far the more visionary and disturbing. Where "American Beauty" hinges on the subversive allure of a rose-covered blond cheerleader, Fincher has something a good deal tougher in mind. The director of "Seven" and "The Game" for the first time finds subject matter audacious enough to suit his lightning-fast visual sophistication, and puts that style to stunningly effective use. Lurid sensationalism and computer gamesmanship left this filmmaker's earlier work looking hollow and manipulative. But the sardonic, testosterone-fueled science fiction of "Fight Club" touches a raw nerve. In a film as strange and single-mindedly conceived as "Eyes Wide Shut," Fincher's angry, diffidently witty ideas about contemporary manhood unfold. As based on a novel by Chuck Palahniuk (and deftly written by Jim Uhls), it builds a huge, phantasmagorical structure around the search for lost masculine authority, and attempts to psychoanalyze an entire society in the process. Complete with an even bigger narrative whammy than the one that ends "The Sixth Sense," this film twists and turns in ways that only add up fully on the way out of the theater and might just require another viewing. Fincher uses his huge arsenal of tricks to bury little hints at what this story is really about. "Fight Club" has two central figures, the milquetoast narrator played by Edward Norton and his charismatic, raging crony played by Brad Pitt. The narrator has been driven to the edge of his sanity by a dull white-collar job, an empty fondness for material things ("I'd flip through catalogues and wonder what kind of dining set defined me as a person") and the utter absence of anything to make him feel alive. Tormented by insomnia, he finds his only relief in going to meetings of 12-step support groups, where he can at least cry. The film hurtles along so smoothly that its meaningfully bizarre touches, like Meat Loaf Aday as a testicular cancer patient with very large breasts, aren't jarring at all. The narrator finds a fellow 12-step addict in Marla, played with witchy sensuality by Helena Bonham Carter and described by the script as "the little scratch on the roof of your mouth that would heal if only you could stop tonguing it -- but you can't." As that suggests, Marla's grunge recklessness makes a big impression on the film's narrator, and can mostly be blamed for setting the story in motion. Soon after meeting her he is on an airplane, craving any sensation but antiseptic boredom, and he meets Pitt's Tyler Durden in the next seat. Surveying the bourgeois wimp he nicknames Ikea Boy, Tyler asks all the hard questions. Like: "Why do guys like you and I know what a duvet is?" Norton, drawn into Tyler's spell, soon forsakes his tidy ways and moves into the abandoned wreck that is ground central for Tyler. Then Tyler teaches his new roommate to fight in a nearby parking lot. The tacitly homoerotic bouts between these two men become addictive (as does sex with Marla), and their fight group expands into a secret society, all of which the film presents with the curious matter-of-factness of a dream. Somehow nobody gets hurt badly, but the fights leave frustrated, otherwise emasculated men with secret badges of not-quite-honor. "Fight Club" watches this form of escapism morph into something much more dangerous. Tyler somehow builds a bridge from the anti-materialist rhetoric of the 1960s ("It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything") into the kind of paramilitary dream project that Ayn Rand might have admired. The group's rigorous training and subversive agenda are as deeply disturbing to Norton's mild-mannered character as Tyler's original wild streak was thrilling. But even when acts of terrorism are in the offing, he can't seem to tear himself away. Like Kevin Smith's "Dogma," "Fight Club" sounds offensive from afar. If watched sufficiently mindlessly, it might be mistaken for a dangerous endorsement of totalitarian tactics and super-violent nihilism in an all-out assault on society. But this is a much less gruesome film than "Seven" and a notably more serious one. It means to explore the lure of violence in an even more dangerously regimented, dehumanized culture. That's a hard thing to illustrate this powerfully without, so to speak, stepping on a few toes. In an expertly shot and edited film spiked with clever computer-generated surprises, Fincher also benefits, of course, from marquee appeal. The teamwork of Norton and Pitt is as provocative and complex as it's meant to be. Norton, an ingenious actor, is once again trickier than he looks. Pitt struts through the film with rekindled brio and a visceral sense of purpose. He's right at home in a movie that warns against worshiping false idols. PRODUCTION NOTES 'FIGHT CLUB' Rating: "Fight Club" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It includes bloody fights, grisly touches, sexual situations and nudity, profanity and assorted intentional gross-out shocks, including the rendering of human fat into soap. Directed by David Fincher; written by Jim Uhls, based on the novel "Fight Club," by Chuck Palahniuk; director of photography, Jeff Cronenweth; edited by James Haygood; music by the Dust Brothers; production designer, Alex McDowell; produced by Art Linson, Cean Chaffin and Ross Grayson Bell; released by Fox 2000 Pictures. Running time: 135 minutes. Cast: Brad Pitt (Tyler Durden), Edward Norton (Narrator), Helena Bonham Carter (Marla Singer), Robert (Meat Loaf Aday) and Jared Leto (Angel Face).

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more. An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more. An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.

• David Fincher
• Chuck Palahniuk
• Edward Norton
• 4.6K User reviews
• 271 Critic reviews
• 67 Metascore
• 12 wins & 38 nominations total

Top cast 89

• Tyler Durden

• Robert Paulsen
• (as Meat Loaf Aday)

• Richard Chesler (Regional Manager)

• Intern at Hospital

• Thomas at Remaining Men Together

• Group Leader - Remaining Men Together

• Weeping Woman - Onward and Upward

• Leader - Partners in Positivity

• Marla Singer

• Speaker - Free and Clear

• Airline Check-In Attendant

• Federated Motor Co. Inspector Bird
• (as Tim deZarn)

• Federated Motor Co. Inspector Dent
• Business Woman on Plane

• Airport Security Officer
• (as Robert J. Stephenson)

• Doorman at Pearson Towers
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Author Chuck Palahniuk first came up with the idea for the novel after being beaten up on a camping trip when he complained to some nearby campers about the noise of their radio. When he returned to work, he was fascinated to find that nobody would mention or acknowledge his injuries, instead saying such commonplace things as "How was your weekend?" Palahniuk concluded that the reason people reacted this way was because if they asked him what had happened, a degree of personal interaction would be necessary, and his workmates simply didn't care enough to connect with him on a personal level. It was his fascination with this societal 'blocking' which became the foundation for the novel.
• Goofs (at around 1h 15 mins) When The Mechanic ( Holt McCallany ) sprays the Seminary Student ( Matt Winston ) with a hose, the camera briefly shakes because the cameraman was laughing uncontrollably.

Tyler Durden : [31:14] The things you own end up owning you.

• Crazy credits The warning at the beginning of the DVD, after the copyright warnings reads: WARNING If you are reading this then this warning is for you. Every word you read of this useless fine print is another second off your life. Don't you have other things to do? Is your life so empty that you honestly can't think of a better way to spend these moments? Or are you so impressed with authority that you give respect and credence to all who claim it? Do you read everything you're supposed to read? Do you think everything you're supposed to think? Buy what you're told you should want? Get out of your apartment. Meet a member of the opposite sex. Stop the excessive shopping and masturbation. Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove you're alive. If you don't claim your humanity you will become a statistic. You have been warned...... Tyler
• Alternate versions The version available for streaming in China has around a minute of footage of material from sex scenes were removed. Also, for a period the closing scene of the buildings being destroyed was replaced with an English-language text card reading, "The police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding. After the trial, Tyler was sent to lunatic asylum [sic] receiving psychological treatment. He was discharged from the hospital in 2012." After this ending gained press notice, drawing attention to Chinese censorship, the original ending was reinstated.
• Connections Edited into The Arrivals (2008)
• Soundtracks Coffee Shop Zak Composed by Rolfe Kent Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

User reviews 4.6K

• jack_o_hasanov_imdb
• Jul 27, 2021
• How long is Fight Club? Powered by Alexa
• If you're not allowed to tell anyone about Fight Club, how did they recruit new members?
• Why was the little girl crying at the movie theater at 33:33?
• What did Tyler Durden mean when he said "sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken"?
• October 15, 1999 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Official Site
• El club de la pelea
• 240 North Neptune Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA (Tyler's House)
• Fox 2000 Pictures
• New Regency Productions
• Linson Films
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $63,000,000 (estimated)
• $37,030,102
• $11,035,485
• Oct 17, 1999
• $101,320,107

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 19 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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Anarchistic, Nihilist worldview that distorts truth resulting in complete mayhem with jabs at Christian-based support groups, man picks fight with priest & sprays Bible with mace, & man tells man that God doesn't like you; 55 obscenities & 9 profanities plus urination scene; massive amounts of violence including many bloody, brutal fist fights, car accident, shooting, explosions, man burns man's hand with chemicals & dream of a scary plane crash; depicted fornication & pornography use; obscured full female nudity & brief but graphic image of male genitalia; alcohol use; smoking; and, addiction to support groups, man urinates into food, stealing, disturbing images of advanced stages of dementia.

More Detail:

Police stations around the country may have their hands full after this movie is released, as it powerfully depicts the cult-of-personality in turning lost people toward violence. Bizarre, kinetic, fast-paced, and full of camera tricks and deeply disturbed material, FIGHT CLUB is perhaps the next cult movie (think NATURAL BORN KILLERS meets THE WALL meets THE MATRIX) to entice would-be vigilantes to repeated viewing experiences and/or violence.

At the beginning of the movie, Edward Norton, simply known here as The Narrator, is strapped to a chair in a high rise, with a gun sticking in his mouth. By his side, waits Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). He then tells the audience how he got to be in that position.

Months ago, the Narrator had a cushy job in the corporate world and a cushy apartment in a swank skyscraper. Yet, bored and lonely, he became addicted to addiction self-help groups for company and activity. There he met a big-breasted lug of a man named Bob (Meat Loaf Aday), at a group for men without their manhood, victims of testicular cancer. In another group, the Narrator meets Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter), a quirky, deranged suicidal girl who also likes to pose as an addict at such support groups.

One day, the Narrator’s apartment blows up, and he has nowhere to go. He calls a stranger he met on a plane, Tyler Durden, and they become roommates in a dilapidated old house next to a factory. The Narrator is intrigued by Tyler’s bravado and daring speech. One night, when Tyler bets the Narrator to hit him as hard as he can, this becomes the beginning of Fight Club, an underground group of men that whale the tar out of each other at night, just for a rush.

Marla eventually comes to the house, and, soon, she and Tyler are lovers. Bob quits his self-help group and joins Fight Club. In time, the group attracts a large contingent of followers, including many key city officials. The group evolves slowly into a gang, where members prove their strength by enduring days of abuse and then are let into the house to live. Throughout this time, the Narrator and Tyler fund their group by making and selling soap made out of human fat stolen from lyposuction clinics. The group becomes increasingly more violent, and Tyler assigns homework such as getting into a fight with a stranger, simple vandalism and then higher stakes such as large-scale destruction.

Men become blind followers, while the Narrator becomes paranoid at what Fight Club has become. In fact, Tyler is increasingly crazy, and fight clubs are established all over America. The Narrator tries to stop Tyler when he believes that Tyler has gone insane. What he discovers, however, is a horrifying secret that not only implicates him further in a terrible crime involving the supposed bombing of many federal credit buildings, but also a surprise revelation similar to THE SIXTH SENSE or THE USUAL SUSPECTS.

Needless to say, this is not a simple thriller or crime movie. After Columbine and the rise of vigilantism in America, this movie is completely irresponsible. Though Tyler is eventually shut down, he causes lots and lots of damage, including death. Played with great charisma by Brad Pitt, it will be hard not to believe that some young people will emulate him. In general, he is a prankster, urinating into food and splicing pornographic images into family movies. Even more nefarious, he gives the impression of wisdom by spouting half-truths and lies in the form of wise adages, but he twists them for destructive ends. Tyler says that “the things you own, end up owning you.” This may sound good for those trying to get away from American materialism, but to what end? Mother Teresa gave up materialism for a life of service to the poor, not wreckage and carnage.

Some cinephiles may love the cinematography that includes many never seen before images such as a montage that makes the Narrator’s apartment look like the pages of a swank catalogue. The script too, full of wry humor, offbeat statements and crazy details, may attract Academy Award attention. Likewise, Pitt and Norton milk their characters with giddy decadence.

Hysteria and panic seem to be pet themes of Fight Club director David Fincher. Combined with a music-video honed sense of visual style, his movies have been lauded for excellence in their modern depictions of evil. SEVEN put him on the map. The morally better, THE GAME, demonstrated that he who loses his life, will find it. FIGHT CLUB twists this notion around, however. The Narrator didn’t lose his life, he traded it in for a lie of false thrills and experiences. In Tyler, and not the truth, he trusted, resulting in tragedy. Filled with violence and an abandonment of reason and truth for falsehood, it ranks as one of the most dangerous movies released this year.