Another Movie Trying To Be Too Clever

Rating: 5/10 (26 January 2005)

I'd heard a lot about the original novel though I'd never read it , possibly because it sounded like product placement with the anti hero giving long winded descriptions of what beauty products he uses and what designer suits he wears . This is translated into the start of the movie as Patrick Bateman washes , shaves , ex foliates and dresses in brand names . There's two problems with this , firstly that it holds up the main plot of a violent serial killer bumping people off and secondly it doesn't connect with people like me who didn't spend a massive fortune on expensive brand products in the 1980s
Did you know this story was set in 1980s New York ? Oh yes you notice things like mobile phones the size of the brick , smoking in bars , and really crap music by Phil Collins and Huey Lewis And The News , but for much of the running time you totally forget what decade the story is set . Did anyone notice giant shoulder pads or hair like exotic plants ? , y'know fashion statements from the 80s some people don't like to talk about today . All these things seem to be missing as if director Mary Harron has only included 80s icons when the screenplay specifically referred to them . Watch WALL STREET just before you watch this and you'll instantly notice that one movie was obviously filmed during the 1980s while the other one obviously wasn't
But the major problem with AP is that it tries far too hard to be clever . Despite the slow start once Patrick Bateman ( Played by Christian Bale doing a mean Jim Carrey impersonation ) starts bumping off people he doesn't like my attention was held except for a couple of details . When Bateman drags the body of Paul Allen through a busy concourse he leaves a trail of blood which nobody notices . That's detail number one while detail number two is when he chases the prostitute through his apartment block without again nobody noticing he kills her in an unlikely sequence by throwing the chainsaw over a flight of stairs . This got me thinking as to how no one notices his slaughter of innocents . I mean it's obvious the cops are onto him and yet no one notices the mounting death toll . Could it be that he's imagining it all ? By letting the cat out of the bag too soon with these two sequences from Mary Herron I was able to work out by the time he blows up a couple of NYPD patrol cars that Bateman's frustration in life is causing him to be deluded well before the final scenes . Did I say this movie was trying to be too clever ? Maybe I should say too confusing because it insinuates that Patrick Bateman is Paul Allen , or is a figment of Paul Allen's imagination . Duh. Whatever . Considering the very overrated FIGHT CLUB which came out round about the same time has a similar plot twist at the end AP's positives are dimmed even further by comparison
Five out of ten