Grade:  B

Director:  Mary Harron		Released:  April 2000
Writer:  Mary Harron, Bret Easton Ellis		MPAA Rating:  R
Players:  Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe		Running time:  101 minutes

Ratings System

Don't be fooled, American Psycho is a satire and a comedy first, serious thriller second.  I liken this film to Fight Club, both films deal with the same sort of repressed male anger and the effects that can occur when a man takes action to deal with those feelings.

The book it is based on, I read when first released.  I'm glad to report that the movie does not shy away (too much) from the character.  It keeps the spotlight directed at Patrick Bateman (I love Christian Bale in this role) and the world of competition and greed that he resides in.  It is that everyday competition, of wanting to be something more than everyone else, that drives him to do the things he does.  The murders he commits are euphemisms for power, the power that Bateman wants in life but can't seem to get because he is indistinguishable from the other million guys just like him.  Lack of morals abounds in this film, and it just happens to be Bateman whom we follow around, but who's to say the other guys in his group of friends aren't out doing the exact same thing.

The most surprising thing about American Psycho is that it is not really all that dated.  It is famously set in the 1980's, but it still reflects on today's society.

- crocoPuffs