sloppy

Rating: 7/10 (4 May 2009)

I found American Psycho to be rather disappointing. This may have been because of the fact that I built up my expectations too high, or because of the fact that this is a compelling theme that deserved more of an explanation and a more thorough study of Bateman's psyche than the film actually offered.
From the opening credits 'till somewhere halfway the story, i believed that this film had tremendous potential. Halfway trough the movie however, I was forced to revise this opinion, waiting for some explanations of what Bateman is doing or a deeper look into Batemans psyche and what is real and what imaginary. Instead, he just randomly kept murdering girls in random places (the apartment with all the corpses?), strange things happen (Paul Allen's apartment cleaned up all of the sudden by an accusing real estate agent?, Bateman going berserk without any consequences?, Bateman imagining drinking whiskey?) that make you understand that not all of what Bateman does is real, but no explanation is given for this, and we never get to know what in fact is real.
By the time I understood that Bateman was imagining certain things, I was hoping that this film would draw to a 'Fight Club ending' and a 'aha-erlebnis'. Instead, it ended with a lot of unanswered questions and a 'Taxi Driver ending', which left a very sour taste and spoiled a movie with heaps of potential.