12 Movies That Aren't As Pretentious As You Think
12. Fight Club
David Fincher's Fight Club is often held up as a movie stupid people love because it makes them feel smart, validating their masculine anxiety in an era that values traditional masculine traits (namely aggression) less and less.
And were Fight Club some serious-minded, post-feminist screed about men reclaiming their "true nature" while tearing down the capitalist system, perhaps the label might fit.
But to view Fight Club in such terms is to completely misread a film that thoroughly satirises exactly this mindset.
It isn't so much about male enlightenment as it is their lack of it at the end of the 20th century, and 20 years on, Fincher's film retains most of its social relevance.
That this is wrapped around a brilliantly stylish, incredibly acted and simply unforgettable black comedy makes it tough to consider the film pretentious.
This is a film where Edward Norton rests his face in Meat Loaf's oestrogen-infused bosom and Jared Leto's pretty mug gets punched into a fine paste, after all.