Review of American Psycho (2000) by Andrew H — 20 Apr 2013

First of all, I want to clear something up: American Psycho is not a "slasher" horror film. It's a deep, well though-out psychological drama. And a sensational one, at that.

We've all watched Office Space. We all know firsthand the horrors of cubicle life. Only, in Office Space, Ron Livingston's character tried to steal money from his office, while in American Psycho, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale)...kills people.

There are a whole host of other characters that are introduced that are there just long enough so that we get a sense of Patrick's life and his daily routine, but just short enough that we sense that he doesn't really see them as people. When one of these such "people" shows of that he has a better business card than Patrick, for example, Patrick gets mad and hacks at him with and axe.

We meet Evelyn (Reese Witherspoon), a possible romantic interest, Paul Allen (Jared Leto), the guy whose fate intertwined unfortunately with that of an axe, Detective Donald Kimball (Willem Dafoe), a police officer sent to investigate Patrick's murders, and Jean (Chloe Sevigny), another possible romantic interest.

Patrick Bateman truly represents the innermost thoughts of the average American stockbroker. Calm, cool, and collected, but inside, he's bottling up a lot of rage. He deals with it by killing people.

Now, there's been a lot of talk going around about if his killings and murders are real, or if they're just rampages of his fevered mind. If he's actually inviting Paul Allen over and then gutting him, or if that's just happening in his mind, and in real life, he's forcing a smile and trying to get out a "Congratulations!" without throwing a punch.

Bottom Line: I say that the killings are all equally real or unreal; that isn't the point. The point is that life can effect people in harsh, harsh ways. And I'm sure that the murders, real or not, probably could have all been avoided if Patrick had been provided with a punching bag and lots of extra boxing gloves.