American Psycho [DVD] [2000]

American Psycho is an absolutely amazing film! I’ve watched it so many times, and it never fails to impress me.

The media could not be loaded. My name is Patrick Bateman. I’m 27 years old. I believe in taking care of myself, and a balanced diet and a rigorous exercise routine. In the morning, if my face is a little puffy, I’ll put on an ice pack while doing my stomach crunches. I can do a thousand now. After I remove the ice pack I use a deep pore cleanser lotion. In the shower I use a water activated gel cleanser, then a honey almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub. Then I apply an herb-mint facial masque which I leave on for 10 minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine. I always use an after shave lotion with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older. Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final moisturizing protective lotion. There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman. Some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me. Only an entity. Something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours, and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable, I simply am not there

To be honest, I went into American Psycho expecting a banal bloodfest, not expecting this to be a film of any quality whatsoever but instead one of those films that you just watch and then carry on as if nothing has happened. Now yes, the film IS a bloodfest, I will tell you that straight away. The violence is in fact incredibly shocking so this is not for over sensitive people!However, once you past the violence this is actually a very sharp film, lots of black humour and satire, and it is in fact incredibly funny in places. Not only does it capture the looks and sounds of the 1980s perfectly, it also captures the "get-rich quick" mentality of the 1980s perfectly- and really takes it apart. 1980s Wall Street is portrayed as being fundamentally shallow, full of self-absorbed individuals aiming to make their own mark and based on looks and money- and consequently, it is the source of a lot of the biting satire. Of course, what is most amusing, you realise in watching the film 1980s Wall Street is not all that different to our modern society- society remains shallow, remains full of self-absorbed individuals, remains based on looks and money. And as for the Wall Street crew in the film, you still see them in the City of London, in Paris, in New York today. In this light, American Psycho becomes a good film.At the centre of this is Patrick Bateman, who looks and sounds the archetypal 1980s Wall Street slicker. Except of course that he is in fact a bloodthirsty psychopath. Yet he remains an attractive figure, whilst at the same time being inexplicably evil. In fact, probably what makes him attractive IS the fact that you do not ever understand what makes him evil-you just KNOW he is. There is indeed "no catharsis"- he does not change, he does not try and explain his actions, and therefore we do not get the satisfaction of working out what made him evil.Christian Bale's performance is very good, he comes across as seemingly normal in the day job and yet is obviously psychotic at night- the right portrayal for a madman. It HAD to be an OTT performance to capture this, and like Al Pacino in Scarface, I think Bale just about pulls this off- to the point that some of his actions as Bateman are, whilst obviously being against all moral norms; highly amusing. Certainly, "Hip to be Square" by Huey Lewis takes on a different light when you see Bateman killing with an axe during the song being played. As does "Greatest Love of All" by Whitney, given what follows! However, it is not amongst the best of films in terms of quality- but better than many I have seen.Overall I liked it because it gets across the message that we really do not know what unknown evils lurk in our society. Certainly Bateman is a respectable Vice-President of a Wall Street bank- who knows where another Bateman could be in our modern society? I kind of liked that subtle point. As I've said, I also liked the clever satirisation of modern individualism- people being concerned with shallow values and nothing else. Perhaps I'm just a critic of unbridled capitalism, but the way the film does it convinced me that this film was not your average bloodfest- but rather a satire of our times. Of not knowing what dangers are lurking in our society, of being overly concerned with looks and money. If you take this as being a satire of our times, believe me you will enjoy this as much as I did.

American Psycho follows the life of Patrick Bateman, an intelligent, handsome, wealthy businessman who wants for nothing. At night however, he quickly descends into madness as he is filled with a compulsive need to kill and maim. Bateman is the ultimate yuppie, judging everyone by what they are wearing and how they are wearing it, and becomes panicked and irrational if someone has anything better than what he has. His other side is a seriously disturbed and depraved lunatic who Bateman relishes in becoming. Some don't like it, claiming it is boring or not an accurate depiction of 90's society. However, I see the film as one that paints a disturbing picture of the people at the time. Selfish, arrogant, self-obsessed with delusions of grandeur; yet they rarely genuinely contribute to society and are all essentially copies of each other, some much so that mistaken identity is a key theme of the film. The ending is second to none, superbly set up and executed. The acting is generally excellent, Christian Bale able to portray both sides of Bateman flawlessly, with similar turns from Reese Witherspoon, Willem Defoe and Jared Leto. The film is adapted from a book of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis, and I would recommend that people watch the movie before the reading the book, due to the graphic nature of the written story. All in all, a surprising film which shows social irregularities and problems that afflicted a generation and how one man chooses to deal them.

Everyone knows American Psycho or at least knows some reference from it! After having not watched it for a very long time I just had to find it and order it because it’s just such a classic!If you’ve not seen it, then “Hey Paul” you’ve got to watch it!