Did He Really Do It Or Was It All In His Head? (Massive Spoilerage)

Rating: Null/10 (18 October 2000)

At first the movie sets things up to make Patrick out to be a cold, calculating murderer who does his grisly deeds by night and mingles in his upperclass yuppy society by day. (By the way..."Norman", "Bateman"...these two names ring a bell?)
But then the clues start clashing. People claim to have seen Paul Allen, Patrick's first victim. The population of New York begins to thin out until only Patrick and his targets remain. Women begin to act like the clueless screamer's they're portrayed as in the horror movies that Patrick watches.
And then Patrick's world falls apart entirely. He goes through an eerily empty city, shooting everyone he sees, and walks away without a scratch. The next morning, the detective on his trail has mysteriously vanished, Paul is safely alive in London, and not even Patrick's lawyer is willing to buy that Bateman is a murdering lunatic.
So...
Is this a movie about one man's decent into self-gratification and vicarious thrills through some really disturbing fantasy? Or a morality play about the lengths people can be driven to when they stop caring?
I dunno. I'd probably have to watch it twice. I'd recommend it to those who can stomach the violence, and definitely for anyone who can appreciate a multi-layered tale. I'd say it's worth watching for Christian Bale's scary, scary performance alone.