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Year:   2000
Studio: Universal Studio/Lions Gate Films
Movie:  2/5
DVD:    1/5

Teaser

Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is a New York, err stockbroker I think. He's totally shallow and constantly worries about his image and one-upping his friends and rivals in the yuppie lifestyle. Patrick is also quite psychotic and has an uncontrollable urge to kill people in quite ghastly ways. The only real question is how many people is he going to off before he self destructs?

Movie

American Psycho is a rather disturbing movie. Sort of a "how far can a man go?" movie. It is told from the viewpoint of Patrick Bateman, a shallow guy who fits perfectly into his environment. But deep down inside all the frustrations of life build up into a homicidal rage which he takes out first on a rival and then on other people. In between his killings he reverts back to his role and once again under control.

This movie is based on some best-selling book of the same name. And the story is designed to make you think and show some of the weird things about our society. Personally though I really disliked this movie. There are no sympathetic characters so it just becomes a "who's going to die next?" movie without the most of the gore and fun. It's just a movie about a depraved human being.
Writing that, it is a well made movie and there are people who will thoroughly enjoy watching it. I suppose if it had been a bit more over the top it would have been more of a dark comedy but it doesn't aim to do that. Note that I watched the unrated version but I doubt the theatrical release would be really any less gory.

Actors

Christian Bale is amazing in this movie. The depths of emotionless depravity reflected in the character of Patrick Bateman is outstanding. Especially towards the end of the movie when he's really starting to lose it.

DVD

There is a six-minute spliced interview with Christian Bale, a five-minute featurette mostly with director Mary Harron, Cast and Crew bios as well as the theatrical trailer. And some production notes.

Recommendations

Can't recommend this movie.
Copyright (c) 2004 Kevin C. Wong
Page Created: February 2, 2004
Page Last Updated: February 2, 2004