Mischief. Mayhem. Business Cards.

Rating: 8/10 (13 August 2001)

Every so often there is a film which is denied critical acclaim, simply because people keep comparing it to some superior flick. Take ExistenZ compared to The Matrix, for example. The Thing compared to Alien. Or The Game compared to Se7en. It's no accident I'm mentioning David Fincher's movies because I'm tempted to make one of those comparisons, this time with American Psycho and Fincher's Fight Club. And indeed, it's hard to gloss over the similarities, especially when you like Fight Club as much as I do. Both films parody consumerism, materialism and yuppies. Both films feature characters who engage in violent acts (although the reasons for this behaviour are far clearer in Fight Club). Also, the structure of both films share elements (third acts veering off in an alternate direction, etc.) and certain scenes in American Psycho recall distinct scenes in Fight Club (and A Clockwork Orange, for that matter).
Compare both films and American Psycho loses out. There are numerous reasons. Most notably, American Psycho is relatively plot-free. We simply get a series of scenes of satire and ultraviolence, and some very, very basic storylines involving a murder investigation and Patrick Bateman's further descent into insanity. In Fight Club, the plot was one of its strongest points. Furthermore, American Psycho is a very cold film. It's main character is unlikable to the extreme so the coldness is actually a good idea in one way, but of course, it doesn't make for an emotionally absorbing experience (you could argue that this is as cerebral as Kubrick's famous satire). Fight Club did have a likable main character. It's determined focus on Bateman also makes it impossible for other characters (the women in particular) to make a lasting impression. Who can forget Marla Singer, on the other hand? Finally, American Psycho is so definitely eighties, it is at least as much a satire of the era as it is of its themes. In Fight Club, the themes are extended into today, and, for me, that makes it a more relevant film.
But these points merely prove Fight Club is better, not that American Psycho is bad. Not at all, in fact. American Psycho wisely keeps it cool and detached and as a satire works tremendously well. There are a lot of stand-out scenes. The one that pops to mind right now is an incredibly funny sequence in which a couple of perfectly interchangable yuppies show off their new business cards. The scene then shows how Bateman becomes genuinely jealous of his fellow yuppies' better looking cards. These smart and very funny scenes bring across the absolute focus on one's own exterior. It also illustrates the perfect interchangability of its characters. In fact, mixing up people and not caring to know their names is part of the whole film's joke.
Christian Bale is fantastic as narcissistic, egocentric and murderous Patrick Bateman and seems to get every scene just right. Indeed, his performance is probably what makes this film work. He plays Bateman not like a real person but like some kind of empty shell (the scene is which he recites the world's greatest plights is a great example), and also makes him perfectly aware and uncaring of his inner vacuousness. He is also as scary as any other movie psycho has ever been. His motivations are kept in the relative dark and the viewer is left to find those. To me, his behaviour is just another extension of his total uncaring, his complete inability to appreciate anything beyond the physical.
The scariest thing about it? That everytime Bateman seems to be confronting his environment with his and its emptiness, he is met by unattentiveness or laughter. That's the point; Bateman's world is arguably as insane as he is. Now, just keep telling yourself, I am NOT a product of the eighties.

Rating: 8/10