"And as things fell apart nobody paid much attention"

Rating: 10/10 (31 December 2012)

Patrick Bateman is the epitome of what success really is or at least the idea propagated by the media of what this must be. Wealthy, amazingly good-looking, powerful, cultured enough to make valuable points about the artists he likes and he's engaged with a rich and beautiful woman. There's only one thing on his way to achieve perfection: he kills people. Maybe that's what makes him feel complete within himself. But then again what's he doing with his life? Is he really doing the things he thinks he's doing?
"American Psycho" pulls plenty of tricks to convey its message on how thin the line between sanity and insanity really is, and there's so much to take into account that one does not fully understands the movie in just one view. It looks something simple to be solved but it's just the other way around. The more you see it the more you realize how shaky everything is, nothing and no one is reliable.
Speaking of reliable, Bateman (played by a flawless Christian Bale) isn't much of a trusty character, but not in the sense he fools people, pretending to be nice to later murder them. It's more that he's so over the top in some of his actions and reactions that he's completely unbelievable, specially when things start to turn upside down for him, he doesn't get credit for his acts. But is he really there? No one seems to be listening to what's he saying. How much of Bateman's murders are real or just imagination or maybe fantasies of his twisted persona? If they're real what's the pleasure in killing people? There's madness, hysteria, ecstasy, laughs whenever he's slaying and brutalizing his victims, frequently preceded of long opinions on the musicians he listens to. But there's no true enjoyment afterwards. We can't see that on his face or some sense of gain in getting rid of his victims, merely people of whom he just needs to make them disappear, such as a business acquaintance he truly dislikes (played by Jared Leto) or a poor homeless. If he feels something we'll never know, he hides deep down inside.
Bale is such a good actor for this part that comes as a shock to know that he wasn't the first choice for the role. Thankfully, many obstacles in the way of making it made it possible to him take this role which people said to him "It will kill your career!". It turns out to be not only one of his most notorious roles but also the one that reinvented him to Hollywood, a completely 180 degree turn up of his most recognizable role to that date as Jim in "Empire of the Sun". The character he plays here is vain, brutal, calculist, deeply impressed by the mass culture of the period he lives but completely apathetic and careless on the people of and out of his circle. He exteriorizes many expressions but down in the core we know he can't feel anything. That's why he does what he does (if he ever did). To make a relevant comparison, the performance of the actor and his character reminded of Eric Packer, played by Robert Pattinson in "Cosmopolis", one of the most debated films of the last years. Hard to reach a good consensus on it because his character resembles a lot Patrick Bateman but the performance of the actor leaves us confused, there's difference in the situations he lives and the one he faces through the whole journey.
Of all the film adaptations based on Bret Easton Ellis novels this is truly the greatest one. Mary Harron made a hard effort in making this looks like the 1980's ("The Informers" is so poor in this aspect), quite a nostalgic time travel in between musics and references, a truthful portrayal of the yuppie generation as never shown before in so many details, yet it reveals so much about every vain and blind generations that came after in the 1990's and the 2000's. Perhaps that's the reason why people identifies with this movie so much, even after years of its release. Harron also got it right with the casting - Willem Dafoe, Josh Lucas, Chlöe Sevigny, Reese Witherspoon, Justin Theroux, Matt Ross, Guinevere Turner (who also wrote the script) all in positive performances.
Disturbingly funny, the movie and its main character are powerfully iconic just as Alex DeLarge in "A Clockwork Orange", both easily misinterpreted by a vast majority of its viewers. Bateman's tirades are priceless whether discussing Huey Lewis & The News musical qualities before killing one of his victims or his repeated line about having to return some videotapes. Like he says "he's just a happy camper!" 10/10