Hilariously vicious satire of the 1980s.

Rating: 9/10 (15 May 2000)

So let's get this straight: AMERICAN PSYCHO is pornographic and horrific, but also not shocking enough; it's dull and boring, but also overly brutal and disgusting; it crams in too much of the novel, but also not enough. Films like this just can't win when so many people insist on going to see it with such deeply entrenched expectations of exactly what kind of film it ought to be, rather than judging it on its own terms. Surely it is beyond serious dispute that Christian Bale's performance as Patrick Bateman is as compelling as you could possibly hope to see. And some moments (notably the business card scene and Patrick's meditations on various MOR musicians) are extremely funny. I can understand the gore putting off some people, but it's actually no more gory than, say, GOODFELLAS, and nobody ever seems to imply Scorsese ruined that film with graphic violence. And I find it astounding that a film that gets its point across so determinedly can be labeled "pointless". The portrayal of a decade of image without substance, riches without work, sex without love, and so on, represents, I would have thought, a pretty forthright "point", whether you agree with it or not. The film's closing monologue is merely a final reminder that sincerity has no place in a world so vacuous and empty. For me one of the funniest and most telling moments in AMERICAN PSYCHO is when Willem Dafoe, who had previously appeared to be the typically astute screen detective, turns out to be just another grinning Huey Lewis fan - perhaps with dark thoughts and urges of his own. I for one will certainly be extra careful with the next person I hear raving about Phil Collins.