Sussudio

Rating: 10/10 (19 March 2006)

There are at least ten reasons why you should watch this wonderful, macabre movie:
10) Justin Theroux is in the movie and he went to Bennington. So did Bret Easton Ellis, who you undoubtedly know wrote the book this movie is based on, but they didn't attend at the same time. That's okay though because I just like that a Bennington alumnus starred in a film based on a book by another alumnus. That and I think Theroux can be talented when working with a decent director, as he does here.
9) They kill Jared Leto's character. Any movie that does that gets at least an additional two stars. It can make a mediocre movie into something I would describe as "a good way to spend two hours" (Panic Room, I'm looking at you).
8) The book is pretty much unreadable, to me, and not because of its gore (though there's some rough stuff there); it's just boring and the pages and pages and pages about Huey Lewis really aren't that fascinating to anyone other than BEE.
7) The obligatory defusing of misogyny: It was made by a woman! The Patrick Bateman character kills women (grusomely)! So it's okay! I'm not sure I buy that line of reasoning. Frankly, the violence against women here is appropriate because, duh, we're not supposed to like Patrick Bateman. We're supposed to see him as a product of his deluded times. We're supposed to understand that he's either become unhinged as a result of contemporary impersonality or he's a monster because of that impersonality.
6) Willem Defoe's performance as an inept version of Columbo (who was inept enough as it was) is brilliant.
5) The film is delirious, completely. It moves fast and, in a lot of ways, seems as insane as its anti-protagonist. However, it never feels that it's out of control; you know all the time that the filmmakers know how crazy, absurd, and darkly funny the material and performances are. It's almost like some gruesome, EC comic from the 1950s. That's a compliment.
4) Reese Witherspoon
3) Remember how I complained about pages upon pages in the book that expound upon the virtues of Phil Collins and Huey Lewis? Here they work because their shorter and, frankly, they're visual jokes, ultimately. Who knew it was funnier to actually watch a deranged psychopath go after someone with an ax while discussing Sussudio?
2) Christian Bale proves yet again that he needs more work. I'm glad he's getting more of it now, but I think those of us that saw this and Velvet Goldmine were wondering why we weren't seeing more of him.
1) It's just a very very good movie that many people will find enjoyable. Unless they dislike bloodshed, in which case they should stay away.