Expand your mind, just read the book and save a lot of time not having to stare at 80's hair.

Rating: Null/10 (22 June 2004)

American Psycho. 4/10
American Psycho, a novel by Brett Eston Ellis is a wonderful piece of literature that I recommend to anybody who loves the lifestyle of single New Yorkers, is an Ellis fan, or who would like to get lost in a chilling fantasy. I would recommend American Psycho a film by Edward R. Pressman to anybody looking for a flick with mediocre acting, a pretty good 3-way sex scene, and good 80's clothes. After reading the novel in two weeks I was excited to watch the movie. Disappointing.
The movie is about Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), a single New Yorker who is the vice president of Peirce & Peirce, a company on Wall Street. He detests his job and is disgusted by his materialistic friends, whom he is the most materialistic of all. His fiancée, Evelyn (Reese Witherspoon) is pressuring him to get married, his secretary, Jean, is in love with him, and he is going insane.
I think the film did very well preserving the Bateman character and his twisted mind, but it nearly touched on all of the other characters. If I had not read the book (I probably wouldn't have rented the movie) I would have thought the characters weren't nearly well developed and I would have been confused. In my opinion, with the length of the scenes, I felt like certain scenes were only in there as an homage to the book. I felt the movie was trying to be too much like the book. Like the director and the screenwriter were afraid to add scenes or to even add dialogue. They just cut scenes and put ones in the movie that made no sense if one had not read the book. I did, however, like Bateman's monologue.
I did, however, like the door at the end that said THIS IS NOT AN EXIT. I liked how (like most horror movies) it didn't show a close up at the end with very dramatic music. It was there for those who read the book, but if you hadn't you wouldn't have known what it said. In conclusion, if you have read the novel, it is worth watching, if not (unless you are a big Newsies fan) don't bother. It really only has the effect of a bad, uneventful, 80's horror movie.