AMERICAN PSYCHO
SYNOPSIS:
In greedy 1987, 28 year-old Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is a Wall Street player
dedicated to a lifestyle of material acquisition and status. Engaged to
Evelyn (Reese Witherspoon), Patrick's apparently perfect world revolves
around physical perfection, designer labels, corporate power plays and getting bookings at
trendy restaurants. Patrick Bateman is also a serial killer whose murder spree begins with
a homeless man and accelerates as the disgust for the world he lives becomes
all-consuming.
"You don't expect it to be funny. Not laugh out loud funny - and it's not just me.
I saw it with a full house at the Sydney Film Festival, and many people laughed. It's the
comedy of surprise, of the bizarre and unexpected, of the inappropriate - of the
psychotic. Christian Bale is brilliant as Patrick Bateman, an American psycho with a day
job. He obsesses over his corporate status on Wall Street, over his grooming (skin care in
particular) and over the ascendancy of business cards. He narrates the story of his
journey through the bars and nightmares of his life, a journey which ends nowhere. He is
not redeemed. I hope you don't think I'm spoiling the film for you, because I'm not. The
film is not about redemption, even though it's an American film. It's about the lack of
it, the impossibility of it in America. And don't be fooled by the resonance of his name
to Norman Bates, another American Psycho, nor by Bale's vaguely Anthony Perkins-like look.
It's not that kind of film. Nor is it quite a modern Jack the Ripper. I found the film
less affecting and less disturbing than some (eg my colleague David Edwards) because Mary
Harron's direction lifts the dialogue out of the book's context by a style that is a kind
of self-parody. This is highly risky as the reality is watered down, which in turn lessens
the dramatic impact; where it should be chilling, it is coolly funny. The complexities of
story telling and filmmaking clash, setting up a buffer zone between us and the
psychopathic unraveling of a man who is by his own admission "simply not there".
New York yuppies in the 80s appear nothing more than vain fools. They are not terrifying,
and Bateman himself is at times an object of ridicule - which is far from scary. As a
metaphor for America today (or even in the 80s) American Psycho is not original: shallow and superficial morality over profound substance is a (over simplified) view many people
already have of the greatest free nation in the world. That it is in as much agony as
Bateman is over his terrible self is also obvious. American Psycho is controversial - and
at least it looks fresh."
Andrew L. Urban
"In a film full of memorable lines the one which summed up the world of Brett
Easton Ellis' novel and this screen adaptation is spoken by one of Patrick Bateman's
co-workers. As the conversation turns inevitably to restaurants and where they should eat
to score maximum status points one says "I'm not really hungry but I'd just like to
know I've got a reservation". Appearance is everything. This ferociously funny satire
based on the most maligned novel of the 90's could be subtitled A Nightmare On Wall St as
the blank space known as Patrick Bateman becomes the ultimate metaphor for the grisly
hedonism which drove the 1980's and remains active, though less conspicuous, today. If
anyone had trouble accepting the metaphors in Brett Easton Ellis' writing, Mary Harron's
brilliant film leaves us in no doubt that, in the characters own words, he is "simply
not there". Not as flesh and blood but as a potent symbol of moral and spiritual
decay in western industrial economies cannibalised by consumerism and the superficial.
Director/co-writer Mary Harron gets everything right here. Bateman is an idea borne of
disgust and indulgence for its own sake. His victims, importantly, are very real; they are
the disenfranchised without eggshell coloured business cards and entree to the nothing
masquerading as something that is Bateman's world. The comic book violence becomes
uncomfortably real as Bateman's spree intensifies; early laughter at his long-winded
analysis of Whitney Houston and Phil Collins songs subsiding as the brutality of a system
which creates the notion of a Patrick Bateman is realised. Performances are superb
all-round, with Bale mesmerising whether relating the details of his face-pack and
stomach-crunch morning ritual or wielding a chainsaw down a corridor. Chloe Sevigny's
doe-eyed looks work perfectly as his mousy secretary and Reese Witherspoon a shrill
delight as his vacuous girlfriend - the embodiment of a "social x-ray" from
Bonfire Of The Vanities. Rounded out with crisp, antiseptic photography and a soundtrack
mixing the brilliant and the deliberately banal, this is a powerhouse journey into the
dark side."
Richard Kuipers
"Few books have caused more controversy in recent times than Bret Easton
Ellis’ American Psycho (if you buy it in Australia, it will be sealed in plastic) and
now the story hits the big screen. Despite what you may have heard, this film is
definitely not a slasher or horror movie; although it is horrific in its own way. American
Psycho is an examination of evil lurking amongst us; and of our blithe ignorance of it so
as not to disturb our otherwise "perfect" lives. It challenges us to consider
the very value of human life in a materialistic society. That’s not to say the film
isn’t entertaining - it’s engaging, very funny and the plot moves along at a
pace. For the squeamish, don’t worry. In the tradition of Hitchcock, virtually all
the violence takes place off-screen (which is to say, in your head). As the dapper but
disturbed Bateman, Christian Bale turns in one of the best performances of the year so
far. He’s clearly studied Peter Lorre’s whistling psychopath in Fritz
Lang’s classic M (a thematically similar film). His blend of surface style and dark
underbelly is wonderful to watch. Oscar nominee Chloe Sevigny gets limited screen time as
his doe-eyed secretary; but is entirely convincing. Reese Witherspoon is achingly
"80s" as Evelyn; Samantha Mathis’ Courtney is ennui personified; and Willem
Dafoe does his best Columbo as the smarter-than-he-looks detective. American Psycho is an
exciting and disturbing film. Whether you ultimately like it or not, you won’t soon
forget it. And you’ll never look at a business card the same way again."
David Edwards
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CRITICAL COUNT
Favourable: 2
Unfavourable: 0
Mixed: 1
TRAILER
See Brad Green's SOUNDTRACK REVIEW



AMERICAN PSYCHO ®
(US)
CAST: Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Josh Lucas, Samantha Mathis, Matt Ross
DIRECTOR: Mary Harron
PRODUCER: Christian Halsey Solomon, Chris Hanley, Edward R. Pressman, Ron Rotholtz
SCRIPT: Bret Easton Ellis, Mary Harron, Guinevere Turner
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Andrzej Sekula
EDITOR: Andrew Marcus
MUSIC: John Cale
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Gideon Ponte
RUNNING TIME: 101 minutes
AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTOR: Columbia TriStar
AUSTRALIAN RELEASE: August 10, 2000
VIDEO DISTRIBUTOR: Columbia Tristar
VIDEO RELEASE: February 14, 2001
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