A classic.

Rating: 9/10 (6 October 2016)

American Psycho is an exceptional film because it's suspenseful and comical. Two elements that make for an iconic black comedy thriller. The film is an adaptation of Bret Ellis's novel, which has the same name, that originally served as a satire. The all star cast includes: Christian Bale, Jared Leto, Reese Witherspoon, and Chloe Sevigny. The director is Mary Harron, who previously worked on her debut film, I Shot Andy Warhol. Despite the fact that Harron was a relatively new director, the film had no shortcomings in flawlessly adapting the novel. The rating of the movie is R due to the sex scenes, profanity, and gore. The movie offers you an invitation into the mind of a psychopath while displaying the comedy of it all.
Patrick Bateman, played by Christian Bale, is the main character and focus of the film. He's a successful investment banker that leads a double life as a serial killer. With Bateman often expressing psychopathic desires, the core of the film's plot deals with his thoughts through narration. This element gives the impression that the viewer is hearing the thoughts of Bateman, which makes the build up of the movie suspenseful. The victims of Bateman include both people he's acquainted with and strangers. Throughout the film Bateman displays different personalities: a corporate nerd, a witty and materialistic asshole, and an insane serial killer. The personalities previously mentioned eventually intertwine by the end of the film. There's an element that plays with psychology when Bateman frequently slips in and out of reality; it adds another genre to the mix of the juxtaposed film.
Although the movie is focused around a psychotic man, there's still an element of underlying comedy. The dialogue and Bateman's personality is what adds that comedy. Bateman's outburst of vulgar, violent words towards other characters throughout the film is hilariously creepy because the other character doesn't hear him. He yells things such as, "I want to stab you to death, and then play around with your blood," yet the bartender, the receiver of the quote, continues on normally. There's an axe scene where the killing is interluded by a history lesson of the song, "Hip to be Square", as Bateman dances around his victim, and later proceeds to bash his head in. At one point in the movie Bateman and his peers compare business cards as if it were a football game. These stated instances is what exemplifies the ridiculousness of Bateman. I am a huge fan of black comedy so I found it hilarious rather than completely morbid, and Harron's writing makes it easier to do so.
The movie deals with a lot of "inside the mind" narration, which adds the element of suspense to further shape it into a thriller. As a viewer, I was on the edge of my seat to see how the next killing would occur because his thoughts foreshadowed his urge to kill. The cinematographer did a good job with adding suspense because some of the shots during the night scenes resembled that of a film noir. Pairing the film noir shots with suspenseful film music as Bateman scrambled to hide evidence after a killing made me ask myself, "Is he going to get away with it?" The suspense factor makes the thriller more interesting and engaging.
American Psycho is a classic film. It's a classic notably because the scene with the axe has become iconic in popular culture, but also because of the remarkable delivery. The film utilized dark comedy and suspense to its advantage. If I had to give it a rating out of 5 stars, I would give it a 4.5 out of 5. It's a film that I continuously mention and recommend to those who have never seen it before.