Starring Christian Bale, Reese Witherspoon, Chloe Sevigny, Craig McDermott, Paul Theroux, William Defoe, Jared Leto, Samantha Mathis, Matt Ross, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage, Guinevere Turner, Cara Seymour. Directed by Mary Harron. Patrick Bateman (Bale) is a corporate VP in a swanky Wall Street stock trading firm. His fiancee Evelyn (Witherspoon) is the daughter of the firm owner, and is pressing him to get married as soon as possible. He doesn't do much work - his day revolves around cleansing and toning his sculpted body, and deciding where he should take lunch and dinner, and with whom he should take it with. Evelyn is having an affair with one of his closest friends at the firm, Craig (McDermott), but Patrick is stepping out too - with an overly medicated beauty Courtney (Mathis) who is engaged to a "dufus" at the firm who doesn't excite her, but pulls in the bucks. One hotshot executive Paul Allen (Leto) particularly annoys Patrick. After Paul is able to get a reservation at an impossible to book restaurant, and has a more impressive business card, Patrick brings him back to his apartment and stylishly takes an axe to his head. But he's able to hide the body and make like Paul left for London for an extended trip, so no one suspects Patrick. However, a detective Kimball (Dafoe) starts snooping around for Paul's whereabouts, and despite Patrick's clumsy attempt at an alibi, Kimball never really suspects him. Soon, Patrick is arranging twosomes with prostitutes, killing women and men almost randomly, trying to satiate his urge to kill. His secretary Jean (Sevigny) narrowly escapes as Patrick suffers a rare bout of remorse. Many others aren't so lucky. But will Patrick be caught? Based on the notorious, ultraviolent book by Bret Easton Ellis, director Mary Harron has emphasized black humour and satire of 1980's capitalist over-indulgence instead of the violence. And the beginning of the movie starts well, illustrating Patrick's obsession with sculpting the perfect body, using the best face cremes and masks, and exercising fanatically. His identity is created and lost depending on whether he can get a reservation at the "in" restaurants, wear the best suits, and even whether his business card has the best font, the best colour and the best paper quality. Even Patrick himself says he has no idea who he is - there is no one there inside his body. He tells Evelyn, after she points out that he really doesn't like his job, that he just wants to fit in. But soon that isn't enough, as his attempts to get the best apartment, the best sex and the best life don't do the trick. He just can't control his rage. The film suggests Patrick kills because he just can't find any fulfillment in his work or relationships, and his "friends", co-workers and others around him revolt him so much, he just wants to kill them. But the latter half of the film falls apart, treating Patrick's final showdown in an almost surreal manner, abandonning all logic and plausibility. It doesn't make sense or work for the film. The decision to mine the black humour from the book works in the first half, but detracts from the seriousness the ending requires. The film seems to be trying to say that people just won't believe an attractive, charming, "boy next door" (shades of Paul Bernardo) could possibly be a killer, but it manipulates circumstances and mysteriously hides key things (like dead bodies) to do it. Patrick can't decide whether he wants to hide his killings or get caught. He tells Paul he "likes to dissect girls" and "is utterly insane". Paul doesn't seem to care. He tells a model at a disco he's into "murder and executions" and she heard "mergers and aquisitions". Come to think of it, there just might be a connection between the two occupations. But most of the time he tries to cover up his bloody work. The performances are not the problem. Bale is letter perfect as the epitome of narcissitic self-involvement. He captures the soulless nature of greed, and displays the seething anger of someone who loathes himself and those around him. Witherspoon captures the spoiled self-indulgence of one who is only concerned with the perfect wedding and the perfect life, not knowning her fiance at all or noticing he doesn't care a whiff about her. Sevigny nicely exudes the innocence of one who admires her powerful and handsome boss, accepting his controlling tendencies without complaint. The photography and art direction is clean and efficient, appropriate in conveying the shiny yet empty lives of the characters. And the use of bland, vapid tunes such as Huey Lewis' "Hip To Be Square", Phil Collins "Sussudio" and Whitney Houston's ode to narcissism "The Greatest Love Of All" is quite appropriate - Patrick's preference in music is as pandering to fitting in as he is. Although it is a well-made film, the satire is not strong enough to make up for the somewhat confused take on Patrick's murderous impulses, and makes American Psycho a film you might want to avoid. If you would like to respond, please click the E-Mail Press Here To Go To The Review List Page