very funny, very visually appealing and horrific commentary on the '80's

Rating: 7/10 (12 December 2005)

Seeing "American Psycho" right after "High Fidelity" is like going through a fun-house mirror, as it's a warped, caustic view of many of the same issues "HF" deals with humorously and with humanity.
The monologues on pop music are disarmingly similar, but here they are just foreplay for uncontrollable hate and blood lust as a way to try to poke through them for feeling, as if it's ripping through Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" video for blood.
I have no idea about what the original book is like, but this is a "Bonfire of the Vanities" of the single '80's set. One weakness is that we don't actually see the interchangeable yuppies work so we don't see the testosterone rush at work that is so frightening in "Boiler Room" and would have added more tension and maybe even explanation here, where all we hear is that "Mergers & Acquisitions" is synonymous for the lead character to "murders and executions." They are all so interchangeable (shades of "The Talented Mr. Ripley" taking over Jude Law's character) that I was really not sure of what is real or fantasy when others keep saying that he must be mistaken about murdering a co-worker when they met with him.
The lead character, played beautifully narcissistically by Christian Bale, is equally murdering men and women here, so the misogyny charges filed against the book don't apply here, and he's equally unfeeling to both. But as he breaks down, the irony is that he's not unfeeling about his crimes--the rest of the people around him are.
It's a very funny, very visually appealing and horrific commentary.
(originally written 4/15/2000)