American Psycho

It would be hard to find a more scathing indictment of the 1980s than "American Psycho." You know, that book about the murderous yuppie.And if anything, the movie is even more wonderfully brutal than Brett Easton Ellis original book -- a scathing, unnerving movie that swings between savage violence and hilariously sick social satire. But what really makes it work is Christian Bale, who is utterly perfect as the titular American psycho. Every smile, snarl and twitch from this man is utterly perfect.Patrick Bateman (Bale) is the perfect yuppie -- he has a high-paying job and a beautiful fiancee (Reese Witherspoon). He dines at all the best restaurants and goes to the best clubs. He keeps his body, New York apartment and wardrobe in perfect condition, and gives detailed descriptions of his designer clothes, beauty products and music collection.But when his associate Paul (Jared Leto) flaunts a business card that is superior to Bateman's, it sends him into a psychotic rage -- first he kills an old man and his dog, then he cheerily axes Paul to death. A detective named Donald Kimball (Willem Defoe) investigates Paul's disappearance, but doesn't seem to connect Bateman to the man's disappearance despite his many lies.As the days roll by, Bateman's homicidal urges begin to spiral out of control as he kills more and more people, descending deeper and deeper into his own bloody madness. Will he finally be caught for his crimes, and will his insanity finally swallow him up?It sounds like a cliche, but "American Psycho" is all about the emptiness of a life without real substance. Every part of Patrick Bateman's life is carefully chosen for the image it gives him. Within that shell of material wealth is a howling void, and the only thing that fills that soul-destroying emptiness is hate, rage and violence.But Mary Harron doesn't preach to you. She starts the story off relatively quietly, following Bateman around his everyday life -- only interrupted by brief explosions of violence ("I want to stab you to death, and then play around with your blood"). But as the movie unfolds, the story becomes more gruesome -- and more surreal. By the finale, the world has been warped into a bloody funhouse mirror where nothing can be trusted.Consider: an ATM demands that Bateman feed it a cat... and he does. He manages to kill a prostitute by FLINGING A CHAINSAW DOWN A STAIRWELL. And he cheerfully dances through his apartment in a tidy raincoat, babbling about music right before he axes his nemesis in the head.Christian Bale is scarily brilliant in this role, in the way that only the best actors can be. Not everybody can play a psychotic this perfectly. Reportedly he based his performance on Tom Cruise, and I can see that -- Bateman greets the world with a friendly voice and a shiny smile. But his eyes are cold and empty, except when the rage and hate begins to well up behind them.And yet... and yet Bale still manages to make you feel vaguely sorry for Bateman every now and then. He's insane, empty and seems to yearn for the human connections he only knows about through songs. He's pitiable, freakish and terrifying."American Psycho" is wickedly funny, surreal and gruesome -- and Christian Bale is utterly sublime as a psycho that nobody seems to recognize. Absolutely stunning.

Nice movie I could have given 5 stars...but... it is mostly edited due to its very violent scenes.

One of the best psychotic thriller. Since the movie has been censored. It affects the phase of the movie. Anyway watch it for Christian bale

So without spoiling too much, this movie has an annoying lack of depth, as in, it has a very interesting yuppie serial killer as its subject but refuses to delve into why he is the way he is, yes there are small hints here and there like the homosexual encounter and the obsession with having a luxurious business card which will make his friends envious, but overall its just not explored as to why he is demented. This kind of movie needs a more psychological angle but this movie is more interested in showing glamour and violence, and exploring nothing beneath the surface. Also without spoiling too much, the ending seems to imply that (possible spoiler) no one was killed and he just fantasied about the murders (end of spoiler). This would actually be a great smart ending, but I'm sure I'm incorrect about that interpretation of the ending; as this movie doesn't deserve that much credit.Overall a very disappointing film with a great performance by christian bale and some very memorable scenes, but overall a shallow vapid movie.

Christian Bale's character 'Patrick Bateman' is a typical 80's wall street style yuppie and so are all his friends, with all the same sort of life style that your typical 80's yuppie would enjoy and 'Bateman' like them is just another face merged into the kitsch backdrop of the 1980's. But 'Bateman' has a secret that (based on the cover and title I'm sure you can guess what that is).I loved this film, Christian Bale's performance is amazing and the supporting cast (Justin Theroux, Chloe Sevigny, Willem Dafoe) are amazing too and all fit so well into it, as well as all the other characters. If you don't own this and you are in two minds about getting this take my advice and get it, you won't regret it.This movie is based on a novel of the same name and Christian Bale's step mother protested it, what a coincidence he stars in it. The lead role almost went to Leonardo DiCaprio.

Well what can I say..this has got to be my favourite serial killer of all times, Christian Bale at his best playing the role of Patrick Bateman, it's really intelligent, funny, gory, and sarcastic! This movie will stand the test of time for many years to come such a brilliant cult movie 10/10

Awesome movie. Really makes you rethink about life and everything. The only issue I have is that the cuts are very noticeable. Meaning, one scene would suddenly end and then a completely different scene would begin. I dunno if it's just me because I took media studies so I know a bit about these things, but at certain parts, it felt like it was just a whole bunch of random rushed clips/scenes mushed together. But it's not that much of a big deal I suppose.Either way, I really like this movie, but as always, the book is much better and more graphic (but that's kinda the point lol) XD

This is a brilliant film that is pretty sick but at times really funny right at the beginning where he is telling you his routine of how he looks after his body alone made me laugh out loud and some of the comments he makes are quite funny as well, this is a great story of a man who is just insane loves sex and loves looking after himself, but he also has a rage and kills a lot of people mostly prostitutes, Christian Bale is a great actor always has been and in this film he is no different. Highly recommend.