American Psycho

Rating: 8/10 (15 June 2005)

Based on the popular novel by Bret Easton Ellis, this is a great satirical black comedy horror drama, from (female!) writer/director Mary Harron. Basically Patrick Bateman (a brilliant Christian Bale, with a convincing American accent) is a successful, wealthy twenty-seven-year-old Wall Street businessman with quite a good reputation, and he takes good care of himself to maintain good looks and health. No-one would suspect that he was a psychotic serial killer, but after viciously killing an innocent tramp and his dog, and then the annoying workmate, you know it. As the film continues, local cop Donald Kimball (Willem Dafoe) is questioning Patrick for a reliable alibi, while Patrick is having "fun" with prostitutes (that he first whips, and later kills), watching pornography, and being irritated by his apparent fiancée Evelyn Williams (Reese Witherspoon). Also starring Super Mario Bros. star Samantha Mathis as Courtney Rawlinson, Chloë Sevigny as Jean, Mulholland Drive's Justin Theroux as Timothy Bryce, Josh Lucas as Craig McDermott and Guinevere Turner as Elizabeth. The memorable moments for me are Patrick explaining his routine for good living (including the poster picture of him wearing the blue ice pack mask on his eyes), the sleazy threesome, the human head in the fridge, Patrick running naked through the corridors with a chainsaw to kill the whore, and the murder of Paul Allen (Jared Leto) while talking about music (his passion). The dialogue is very witty, the violence is really cool, and Bale has never been better. The ending, after his breakdown and confession of his horrific crimes, is a bit weird, you see the words "This is not an exit" on the wall, and you don't know if it is his imagination, or an insignificance to other characters, but apart from this weird ending, the rest is a must see. Very good!