What if all you were left with was subconcious?

Rating: 7/10 (24 July 2002)

American Psycho is a daring movie. It is not for the faint of heart, but looking past the gore you will see there is a great deal going on here.
The film is nominally about a very eccentric Wall Street type whose life revolves around the parties, the lunches & the women that make up his lifestyle. At first you are hit with the utter weirdness of this guy's mannerisms...no one would associate with this wacko in real life.

At first you figure "he's overplaying." Then, as you get deeper into the film, you realize what is going on here. This is not life in the real world. This is life inside this guy's head... it's his subconcious. You are never told this... you have to figure it out; none of the characters ever walks up to the screen and announces it. But, once you get it, the film is much more enjoyable and it finally begins to make a sort of bizarre sense.
For a genre that is too often too campy, too violent without cause, and too brainless, American Psycho is a breath of fresh air. It appears campy at first. It is violent, especially towards women. But it is not brainless.
Take the time to actually watch this movie and think about it. You'll see there's much more than meets the eye.