Doesn't cut it as serial killer thriller or witty satire

Rating: Null/10 (16 April 2000)

American Psycho: In the heady eighties appearances were everything: consumerism was king, money was god and the towers of Wallstreet represented financial Sodom and Gomorrah. Enter Patrick Bateman, investment banker extraordinaire: although he's similar to his colleagues - greedy, shallower than a puddle after an April shower, and a walking Calvin Klein ad - the only thing he likes better than dissecting pop songs is dissecting people. As he explains it to one of his victims, "I'm in murders and executions". Stable he is not. I find it ironic, and yet somewhat appropriate, that a movie about a serial killer set during Wallstreet's glory days is getting wide release when the markets are undergoing one of the worst bloodbaths in years. I haven't read Ellis' novel, but I remember vividly the outrage that followed its release - indeed, they tried to confiscate it at the border as obscene material. Critics accused Ellis of reveling in blood and gore and creating a how-to book for serial killers. This movie is not that book. Harron (the writer/director) opted to shift the focus away from the killings and create a satire that highlights the excesses and obsessions of the era, for example, the scene where the characters compare their business cards feels almost pornographic. Likewise, Patrick's constant analysis of pop music (he must intellectualize why he listens to it rather than simply enjoying it) is ridiculous as there is little substance to it at the best of times, but again it is an attempt to establish superiority and depth.

Christian Bale is electrifying as the narcissistic serial killer, but ultimately he is too good - his character is so bereft of humanity that he seems plastic and eventually becomes nothing more than a walking, stalking ken doll who is more laughable than menacing.
What could have been a clever indictment of the Me Decade, ultimately fails for trying to be too clever and impersonal.