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American PsychoRating:
Release Date: 05 September, 2000 Retail Price: $26.98 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: Complete Cast (9 total) |
American Psycho Reviews
Fantastic performance by Christian Bale brings a disturbing character to life.
"An American Psycho" is one of those films that people seem to find very difficult to come to grips with. Is it a masterpiece deserving of praise? Is it a completely boring, insensitive piece of sick trash? Or is it something in between? Through all this argument though, there is one thing that cannot be denied. That this film will provoke a reaction from the viewer whether it is feelings of disgust, praise, amusement, unease or all of the above. Well, unless of course the viewer is in a similar state of mind as Patrick Bateman that is.
You see, Patrick Bateman externally appears to be everything a man could want to be. He has a body to die for, a big earning job and all the worldly possessions that come with the territory. Yet despite all this, Patrick finds it difficult to feel anything. He states in the film that he feels no human emotions other than "greed and disgust" and it's this complete lack of connection with the world that drives him to violence. However, even these extreme outbursts of gruesome bloodshed still can't make him feel anything but empty and only distance him further from humanity, driving him towards madness.
Christian Bale's performance as Patrick is simply stunning. He fills the character with humour, anger, charm, intelligence and copious amounts of vanity. Christian makes even the strangest of scenarios in Patrick's existence appear to be completely realistic for him. An example of such bizarre behaviour is the way he verbally critiques Huey Lewis and the News while murdering a colleague. Or when he decides another colleague should die for the simple fact that they now have a better business card than he does. These occurrences are as funny as they are unsettling but never unintentionally so. The direction is perfectly understated and considering the extreme nature of the book it is based on, the screenplay is as loyal as decency (amongst the general movie going population anyway) and budget would allow. I should point out though that I have not yet read the book and this review is based only on the movie itself and not the quality of the adaptation.
"An American Psycho" is not for the faint of heart and yet there essentially isn't all that much on-screen gore. Not to say that killing people with chainsaws and axes isn't gory, only that these brutal acts of slaughter are mostly either only suggested or just out of the cameras view. But more than the acts themselves, many viewers will find the nonchalant, motiveless way in which Patrick conducts them far more disturbing, not to mention his degrading use of women as self gratifying objects.
I thoroughly enjoy this movie. Despite all the disconcerting aspects of the story it remains an entertaining film and multiple viewings have definitely been rewarding. The only way in which I feel this film is not a complete success is in the ambiguousness of its final moments. Although it certainly makes a great discussion point post viewing, I can't help but feel it to be frustrating and slightly unnecessary. I have my views on what it all means, but I won't mention them here as I don't want to ruin things for those that haven't seen the movie yet. Besides, I have to return some video tapes.
Bale Brilliantly Nails The Role Of A Narcissistic Yuppie Nut
In this film version of Brett Easton Ellis' often misunderstood satiric novel, the question of Bateman's real versus imaginary deeds is answered more firmly than Ellis allowed to happen in the book. Here, seemingly, at least some if not all of Patrick Bateman's violence apparently came to pass only in the space between the sick (though impeccably fashionable) Yuppie's ears. In this flashy, stylish and yet somehow still laudably low-key adaptation of a novel once thought unfilmable, Christian Bale does a superb job of embodying a self-loving, celebrity-obsessed, brand name worshipping billionaire playboy, who tells us in lingering detail how he just happens to slay random people in his spare time. Bale trades his native Welsh accent for a polished snooty high society American one, and his comedic narcissism is refreshing in comparison with how so many other actors would have played this daunting role. The extended "cut" of American Psycho restores some of the nudity and a little of the violence left out in the theatrical release six years ago. What has never been removed is the dark humor and blistering satire that skewers the late 1980's love of excess. Fine performances abound in American Psycho, from the always magnificent Willem Dafoe, to Reese Witherspoon as Patrick's bubble-brained fiancée, to a downtrodden Chloe Sevigny as Bateman's loyal secretary, to Samantha Mathis as a pill popping "hotbod" whose dead-end drug addiction amuses the sadistic Bateman. Filmmaker Mary Harron, who also gave us the bleak nineties art-flick, I Shot Andy Warhol, packs a lot into the relative short run time of this movie, and in my opinion, she did a pretty fine job with some difficult material.
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