A brilliant modern day Gatsby

Rating: 8/10 (25 July 2006)

Novel adaptation "American Psycho" is a fiercely comical, graphic, dark, and relevant satire directing blunt social criticism toward the perverse materialism in America in the 1980s, the soullessness of rich people and the lack of individualism among an entire generation of yuppies. Think it's too much to take? It isn't, as the film balances its dark themes with huge doses of well-placed comedy. We follow Patrick Bateman, superbly acted by Christian Bale, as a well-to-do Wall Street worker, Harvard graduate and killer sociopath at night.
Director Mary Harron has bravely steered American Psycho away from a slasher horror path and zooms in more on the psyche of Patrick Bateman and his hatred for other people which for the most part is covered in a mask of sanity but which sometimes slips out and results in gory killing sprees in his apartment.
American Psycho is an elegantly crafted thriller, making great use of high-praised art, vulgar fashion trends, refined decoration, luxurious food and expensive New York living -- all to illustrate the materialism of our time. This makes Patrick Bateman something of a modern day Gatsby, but with a morbid twist and complete lack of morals. This is a modern masterpiece, if faintly flawed -- mostly because it does not leave much feeling. The entire film is very detached since we follow a cruel, emotionless anti-hero and pointing to the hollowness of an entire generation, the film itself becomes a bit hollow.
8/10