20 Movie Reveals Nobody Noticed

14. No Incoming Calls Allowed - Fight Club

Scream 2022
20th Century Fox

David Fincher's Fight Club boasts one of the all-time great WTF plot twists, when we learn that anarchist Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) actually isn't real, but merely an invented alternate persona existing within the mind of our unnamed insomniac protagonist (Edward Norton).

And while there are a number of visual hints at the twist peppered throughout the film, none are quite as emphatic or brilliantly subtle as this one.

After the protagonist's apartment is blown up and Tyler calls him from a payphone, Fincher shows a close-up of the phone which bears the text, "No incoming calls allowed."

And so, if there's no way for the payphone to receive incoming calls, then how can Tyler even be calling the protagonist? 

While first-time viewers might simply assume that this was a production mistake on Fincher's part, let's be honest, would the ever-meticulous Fincher let a goof like this slip through the cracks? And even if he did, he'd surely fix it in post-production.

In retrospect of course it was clearly a sneaky nod towards the fact that Tyler doesn't really exist.

 
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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.