Why It Ranks
Fight Club is the darkest comedy on this list and the most culturally influential film of 1999 after The Matrix. The twist redefined cinematic unreliable narration. Pitt and Norton are perfectly matched. The soap monologue is the funniest anti-capitalist speech ever delivered. First rule: it belongs on every comedy list.
The Film
Fight Club is a dark comedy disguised as a thriller disguised as a manifesto — David Fincher's adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel about consumer culture, masculinity, and self-destruction is one of the most misunderstood films ever made. People who quote Tyler Durden unironically are the film's target, not its audience. Brad Pitt's Tyler is the funniest anarchist in cinema — a soap salesman who builds an army of disaffected men by telling them the things they already believe but are afraid to say.
Fun Facts
Brad Pitt and Edward Norton actually learned to make soap and took boxing lessons together to build chemistry.
Helena Bonham Carter wore her makeup with her left hand because Marla 'wouldn't be good at it.'
The film bombed in theaters but became the most-purchased DVD of 2000, selling over six million copies.
Chuck Palahniuk has said the film is better than his novel — one of the rare cases of an author preferring the adaptation.
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