disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (10 December 2001)

British actor Christian Bale stars in the role (that Leonardo Dicaprio turned down) of Patrick Batemen, a wall street hot shot who has a nasty habit of killing people, and for no good reason. Based on the conraversal book by Bret Easton Ellis the film was adapted by director Mary Haron who went though lots of difficulties to get this film made. So was it worth it ? Not really. I'm not saying American psycho's a bad movie, but it's not a good one either. It's more like in the middle. Among problems are the casting, although Bale looks like a psycho he goes over the top with the acting. I would never believe him as a real person never mind a complex killer, which brings me to the second problem. He wasn't complex enough! If you compare him with other crazies like Jack Nicholson in The Shining or Malcom McDowell in A Clockwork Orange you could see what they were going through which made it frightening because they seemed so real and believable. Then there's the other problem of the pointless subplot with Willam Dafoe as a investigator, which didn't seem to go anywhere. It has it's creepy moments though, like in a scene where Batemen works out while listening to the Texas Chainsaw Massacar or when he chases a women through an apartment wearing nothing but a chainsaw. Maybe the film would have been better if it focused more on his mind and less on his crimes.