Do not expect the graphic violence of the book.

Rating: Null/10 (20 September 2000)

The film of the infamous 80's yuppie culture novel is a different affair to the blood soaked, sickeningly twisted and violent book. Anyone who has read the text should be aware of the unsuitability of some of the torture scenes to be filmed. There is violence in this picture but, as is often stated in other reviews, the feel of the film has been (I would say un-subtly) feminised. Christian Bale plays Bateman with a natural slickness, my only criticism of this characterisation is a (at times) slightly ropy accent. Although the plot is the same as the book, I certainly think that the ending doesn't work so well on screen, which could be said about the entire film.
The book was about violence, anonymity, Patrick's decent into madness and perhaps ultimately a psychosis even further removed than the supposed reality he exists in. In the film this cracking up is handled like a farce in a mid-life-crisis comedy. This takes the edge of the satire.
Good Film, as always, perhaps more so than usual, far inferior to the book. still in its own right its worth 7/10