Being A Serial Killer.

Rating: 7/10 (17 April 2000)

Patrick Bateman is a Wall Street yuppie who has a nice apartment, nice clothes, healthy body, a beautiful girlfriend, and a great paying executive job. However, all is not normal for Patrick, you see, beneath those high quality assests, there's a monster that lives deep in Patrick's soul. That monster is vicious and evil, it's the evil side that controls Patrick when he's upset and angry. And then all hell breaks loose, blood is shed, and Patrick continues with his daily life. That is the premise behind the new Mary Harron film, AMERICAN PSYCHO. Patrick (Christian Bale) A everyday man, who is indeed successful, wealthy, and part of the elite society in the late 1980's. But he releases his anger by taking care of his problems, which would include disembody a woman's head, chop a fellow co-worker into little pieces, and other horrific things. PSYCHO is a intelligent satire of the late 1980's, where we were serious about the lifestyle, songs, and attitude that is protrayed in the film back in 1987. Now we just laugh and are in disbelief on the way we acted and the music we listened to. PSYCHO shows the strong conservative image that most Americans were living during Regan's power. But it's the brilliant inside look at what one of these conservative's would be like if we took a look inside their life. I was really looking forward to PSYCHO, I was hoping that it would be like a look inside the mind of a madman like Hannibal Lecter, or Travis Bickle. But it's different, it doesn't really tell the viewer why Patrick kills. Instead, it shows Patrick's daily life-style, which includes putting on tons of different beauty oils, excersising regularly, and tanning. But it shows that the psychos in our world are not the kind that live in the dark in urban American and have special kinds of moths with a skull on it. No, it shows that the serial killer is not only the person that you know, but your best friend! The acting by Christian Bale is outstanding, he did quite a job by dropping his Limey accent for a pure Yank accent. I love his speeches on certain 80's music, including Hewey Lewis, Phill Collins, and Whitney Houston. The support is also good, Willem Dafoe is also good as a investigator looking for a missing person that Patrick might have killed. Chloe Sevigny is also very good as the Patrick's administrative assistant who has a crush on Patrick. And Reese Witherspoon is a typical snobby and stuck-up socialite who cares more about what will the wedding look like than the actual marriage. Mary Harron does a great job adapting the horrific novel (although I haven't read it yet), but with the story and pacing, it appears that she got the real reason to why we should watch this movie. What I also enjoyed is the trickery that Harron uses in this film. When the viewer thinks that they are seeing something, it's something totally different. I always love it when a film director messes with the viewer's mind. Overall, I really did enjoy AMERICAN PSYCHO, but it does have it's bad points. At times the movie goes from a fast pace to a bit slower. And some of the character's are not explained fully in detail. But those are just the side dishes compare to the rest of the film. But when you have a film where you have businessmen compare business card's to show their masculinity, it's sad but funny. It's just a cruel way to show that while others care about their appearence, others are releasing their anger and taking out on others, with their blood. This film is not really for the faint of heart. It's not that gross, but it does leave a lot to the imagination, which is more gross. **** (out of five)