A dark look at the subconscious mind of the typical American male.

Rating: 8/10 (10 September 2002)

American Psycho seems to be concerned with what it is that Americans really think about, and puts forth a rather disturbing assertion. This movie reminds me of an old video I saw of Jim Carrey back when he was a stand-up comedian. I think this was even before his Saturday Night Live days. He was talking about how we all have these weird, violent urges many times a day, but luckily we all have that voice of reason in our heads that tells us not to act on these urges (`Ah-ah-ah, turning the car into oncoming traffic  is counterproductive!!'). Christian Bale's Patrick Bateman is a guy who has those normal urges, just like any normal American, but lacks the voice of reason. He acts on his urges, and basically becomes what any of us would become if we did the same thing.
Sure, I'm kind of going out on a limb to say that any normal American would turn into the murderous monster that Patrick Bateman is, but there is definitely an element of truth to that. If everyone acted on their urges, the world would be a nightmarish place.
The movie starts out by introducing Bateman as a typical young businessman in the tradition of the guys in Boiler Room. Completely obsessed with money, superficiality, a dizzying array of skin creams and ointments, reservations at the trendiest restaurants in town, the goofy names for the colors of his business cards, etc. You know, things that normal people don't care about. But of course, Patrick Bateman is not a normal guy. These are all things that reflect the heavy undercurrent of sexual symbolism. This film is packed with references to the insecurity of the typical male about his sexuality, and Bateman acts all of these things out in every way from the kind of business card that he has to the kinds of people that he kills and how he kills them. Not a pretty idea, but the film definitely has something to say. This is not just some frivolous exercise in sex and violence and murder and rape, the movie has a message to deliver and it knows how to get some attention.
American Beauty had a million things to say, not the least of which had to do with modern American society's obsession with superficiality and skin-deep beauty. American Psycho has some similar things to say, most of them much darker than anything in American Beauty (which had some pretty dark stuff in it!), but not delivered in quite the same stunningly skilled and complex package. American Psycho is a masculine film about American males and directed by a woman, which is just as well because a male director may have been a little insecure about portraying a deeper level of male consciousness in such a brutally accurate manner.