Rating: Carpet Burns
Don't worry if you thought they were going to mangle this and there was no way they'd make a good film from one of Chuck's books after Fight Club. I was quite excited to hear someone had made another adaptation of one of his books with Angelica Huston and of course a little anxious to see what it would be like. Lo my opportunity came and I grasped it by the... well you know.
I've only read part of the book which is how I came to know about the story and thought it was hilarious if a bit of a difficult read, probably too funny. There's nothing awkward about the film. The soundtrack is a little like Mr and Mrs Smith (the theme song) but isn't too flat, it's more playful. Surprisingly for one of Palaniuk's books there's actually a serious love story (OK it's kind of serious, as much as having to get pregnant in the chapel of a mental hospital can be.) That combined with the character's relationship with his hopelessly demented mother makes it a lot more resonant on a basic human level than Fight Club.
You won't have any truly mind altering experiences watching this film but it gets into the gritty side of human relationships in a way that a film based more on events like Fight Club can't.
They don't get carried away with the sex side of the film but it's always there for your enjoyment and amusement. It doesn't have any Gozu-esque tales of sexual misadventure.
I suspect there would be little surprise reading the book after seeing this but maybe I'll do it anyway to deepen my comparison. From what I've read (which is a classic story of human degradation made funny in the way only Chuck Palaniuk could) it's as faithful a recreation of the book as they were likely to make. There isn't a huge amount of directoral style in this film but then there shouldn't be because that would only undermine the story and throw you off thinking about the people in it which is what you're supposed to do. I think I would enjoy this film more if I wasn't sober though.
Ironically for a subject that so many people consider objectifying, especially since it's associated with how people look, the element of addiction takes that away and makes it far more human story. You get a great sense of the characters as people and how they look doesn't matter that much (because they're all viable for boning-except for his mother. Even one of the old mental patients thinks he's done it with her.)
Ironically for a subject that so many people consider objectifying, especially since it's associated with how people look, the element of addiction takes that away and makes it far more human story. You get a great sense of the characters as people and how they look doesn't matter that much (because they're all viable for boning-except for his mother. Even one of the old mental patients thinks he's done it with her.)
