I had a temp job in the distribution center for a publishing company once, and while I was there, I got a lot of books. I believe one of them was Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho, a book I knew a little by reputation and that there was maybe a movie based on it by that point. My exact recollection of where I got this book and when I read it is a little hazy, but I do remember one thing: I didn’t much care for it. As a satire, aside from long moments when narrator Patrick Bateman would go into detail on different popular 80s musicians, the book seemed to have two jokes. The first was Patrick could outright tell people he was a serial killer and no one would really listen or believe him. The second was Patrick could go into great detail on the designer suits and such everyone was wearing but never quite remembered anyone’s name. Towards the end, there’s a suggestion that the 80s are over when one of Patrick’s friends actually starts to show signs of thinking beyond superficial appearances, but overall, it wasn’t really for me.
I’d actually heard the movie with Christian Bale was pretty good though. It’s on my Fill-In Filmography and on HBO Max until the end of the month. I’ve watched movies for less of a reason than that.
Investment banker Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) would appear to have it all. He’s in his 20s, has a lot of money at his disposal, wants for nothing, and he’s engaged to Reese Witherspoon’s Evelyn Williams. What’s not to like? Well, for one thing, he despises Evelyn, but he also doesn’t seem to hold anyone in much value. He lives in a world of superficiality. This is a world where success is measured by the fanciest business cards. Patrick has the finest clothes, and his largely bare apartment certainly has that 80s chic going on, but that’s not enough for the likes of Patrick Bateman. No, he has these urges to hurt and often outright murder people in the cruelest ways possible. Mostly he targets women, but when co-worker Paul Allen (Jared Leto) gets a good deal ahead of him, well, all bets are off for Paul. Or are they? No one is quite sure what happened to Paul Allen anyway.
Yeah, all the jokes from the book I didn’t care for made it into the movie I likewise didn’t much care for. Patrick walks around with deadly weapons that no one really seems to notice, and he can confess outright what he’s done, and he’ll either be ignored or people assume he’s telling a joke. And that’s assuming they remember his name. He doesn’t seem to remember anyone else’s either. He doesn’t exactly hide his violent actions, but at the same time, no one really cares to get to know him or notice him well enough to see things like the human head in his freezer. The detective (Willem Defoe) looking into Allen’s disappearance doesn’t seem too suspicious. Patrick can kill to his heart’s content, and no one seems able to stop him. If anything, no one seems interested in stopping him because that would require actually paying attention to him. Is there a way out of all this for Patrick? And does he want it?
I’ve heard this movie was pretty good, and quite frankly, it didn’t work for me. It’s a pretty good adaptation of the novel, but I didn’t care for that all that much either. American Psycho is not a subtle story, and moments like how Patrick, enjoying the services, shall we say, of two women at once, spends the entire time gazing at himself in the mirror. He’ll have newspaper spread across his floor to prevent bloodstains, and a victim will not even think twice about it until it’s too late if at all. I will give the movie credit for keeping the violence largely off-screen, and there’s even a good fake out where screams heard in Patrick’s apartment turn out to be his television.
But really, this one didn’t work for me. I could see where it was going, and I could see why a lot of people might dig it. I’m just not one of them. It’s a satire with maybe three jokes that keep getting repeated over and over. Bale is great, and the supporting cast is pretty strong, but this just isn’t my sort of movie.
Grade: C+
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