American Psycho (USA. 1999)

Adapted from the seemingly inadaptable rambling novel that garnered heaps of scorn for its lurid descriptive violence and supposed misogynistic content, “American Psycho” is a film that everyone expected to be a curiosity and nothing more. How could have a film has no endearing characters and star a completely vapid serial killer thta has no redeeming qualities?

The plot is this: “Patick Bateman (Christian Bale) is a young and successful Wall Street Banker by day. At night he’s a crazed killer that strikes out at brutally at random.” . Directed by Mary Hamond (“I shot Andy Warhol”) the film went on to grab tons of media attention when it was slapped with an NC-17. Wow. Really? Had people even read the book? The violence on display ran for pages, completely clinically presented and maximized for extreme stomach turning nausea. The film version HAD to be violent. It was an integral part of the story. The difference between the novel and film is that you couldn’t go too over the top with it. If you poured buckets of blood across the screen the more satirical elements would get lost in the shuffle with the pure exploitation of having someone get their eye gouged out for two pages. It would turn into a cartoon. Thankfully, the film never falls into that trap. Most of the violence actually happens off-screen but we always know exactly what’s going on. Bruce Campbell once said that Evil Dead 2 was scarier when they cut all the gore out: “All you had to cut back to was the hero’s terrified face” and that applies here too. The film never loses its footing as a horror satire. Christian Bale is amazing as Patrick Bateman. He is handsome, rich and most important, a complete dork. People are sometimes so horrified by the random acts of violence that they forgot that at the end of the day this is a COMEDY! The absurdity of the situation is that the shallow people that obsessed are so obsessed with looks, wealth and standing that they fail to realize that they look like complete losers to everyone but themselves. Christian Bale plays the role with so little shame, that sometimes it’s hard to look at him on film as anything else then Patrick Bateman. The films flow may be a little off-putting at first, with little of a forward moving plot to keep things going, but it’s really more of a series of skits than anything else. There’s a sub-plot about Bateman, maybe, being wanted for a murder (Led by a detective played by William Daofe) but it’s never resolved because it’s the interaction of an outsider that’s important, not the end result. The film offers an interest subversive finale that you can discuss for day. It isn’t always as clear cut as you’d expect. I have to applaud Mary for skimming through all the superfluous passages of the novel (And there’s A LOT! Some people would say that’s the point) and crystallizing it into the best movie adaptation possible…well…almost. I’ve heard people say that the perfect star for this role would have been Tom Cruise, because he is that rich good looking guy we all associate with. If we were presented with him as a psycho killer it would only augment the hilarity of the situation.

NOTE: There was a DTV American Psycho 2 starring Mila Kudris, one of the cast-members of That 70’s Show. It ditched any semblance of commentary or satire and played everything as a straight slasher film. Did people even see the first one?