Killer Performance

Rating: 8/10 (24 May 2000)

How well do you really know your co-workers? Your friends? Your relatives? `American Psycho' dives deep into the mind of a serial killer and almost allows you to feel what he is experiencing. Based on the controversial best selling novel by Bret Easton Ellis, the movie follows pretty much the same premise as the book.
Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) is a poster boy for the eighties. He wears expensive suits. Eats extravagant meals of swordfish meatloaf. Has an apartment overlooking the park. However something is missing in his life. To fill the void, Bateman takes up perverse sexual practices and even resorts to killing total stranger and personal associates. Even after all the blood is absorbed into the urine soaked concrete of the Manhattan sidewalks, Bateman is still unhappy. What even makes it worse is that no one seems to notice.
Christian Bale is flawless in a role that few people lined up to play. His performance in this movie has given the Oscar race a good jumpstart which barring any unseen potholes should continue right up until nominations.
`American Psycho' delivers its share of problems as well. Script holes tend to tatter it throughout its screen time and thought the movie, the dialog seems to be improvised rather than scripted. In a movie of this subject matter, lines should flow as smooth or perhaps even smoother than silk. We cannot tolerate conversation as though it was being preformed in front of a live audience in New York.
**1/2
6/10