i dont see how you cant see it being about drugs ruining lives. i havent seen it in a few years but if i remember right they took drugs and their lives got worse and worse and they were wanting better lives. the fight club book was better than the movie because the ending made sense, other than that they were about the same. norton and brad pitt did great jobs acting, i dont know how it would qualify as a masterful display of filmmaking though, and i am well aware they showed his apartment as a catalogue. a good movie but really a bad example if you are trying to think of movie being better than the book, the book was very well received