A faithful translation to the big screen?

Rating: 8/10 (6 February 2006)

Ever read the book? Hard work wasn't it?
I don't mean this as an insult to 'Bret Easton Ellis' work, he simply had to use this intense attention to detail to deliver us the character of Bateman. So i for one was very pleased to find that this was carried over to film successfully (apart from the glaring omission of the violence and gore).
Mary Harron, bravely chose to leave these scenes to suggestion, running the risk of reprisal from critics everywhere.
Did Mary Harron chose correctly? I say absolutely yes!
Given the relatively low budget of the film, the complexity of the story and the characters and the difficulty in displaying such harrowing and sick sexual and murderous visuals, 'American Psycho' could have quite easily become a very disjointed slasher movie, and thankfully it doesn't.
Instead 'American Psycho' is a wonderfully satirical look at Yuppie life in the 80's, and the idea of living the dream at the expense of the soul. Christian Bale captures the character of Bateman with perfection, and he takes us on the decent into madness with him.
Overall this is a faithful translation to the big screen, which is in many ways more entertaining than the book. My thanks to Mary Harron and Christian Bale for this achievement.
8/10