suspenseful thriller filled with dark humor

Rating: 7/10 (11 August 2006)

American Psycho is a suspenseful thriller in which dark humor prevails over probability. The film works thanks to Christian Bale who gives an intriguing, convincing performance being, on a par with that in The Mechanist, the best in his career. His villain is incredibly degenerate due to the sick, aristocratic community in which he lives. His main hobby, apart from murdering of people in various ways, is listening music and talking about it, which leads to many hilarious situations in the film. What was also shrewdly used in the script are seemingly minor obsessions, like owning prettier business cards. The flick tears to shreds wealthy aristocratic environment which is responsible for arising sick atmosphere among people occupying the top positions as well as puts a question about individual's responsibility. Thus, the message is very similar to that in Woody Allen's Match Point. However, in American Psycho black humor is used instead of metaphorical meaning.