 How does the author feel about Mumford?
Jack and Bob subscribe to a new form of male bonding: They cling to each other and sob. But onscreen, when Pitt announces to the assembled fighters that they are the "middle children of history" with "no purpose and no place"--emasculated on one hand by the lack of a unifying crisis (a world war or depression) and on the other by lack of material wealth as promised by television--he seems meant to be intoning gospel. "We are a generation of men raised by women," Tyler announces, and adds, "If our fathers bail, what does that tell you about God?" Is it that he's a materialist or that the materials themselves (i.e., IKEA's lacquered particle boards) don't measure up to his fantasies of opulence?
 The author loved it, even though it was a flop.
 It was a flop.  It's like a noir Norman Rockwell painting.  The author loved it, even though it was a flop.  The film gave the author psychological mumps.