American Psycho is one of those few movies I wish desperately that I had seen in the theater. This was the film that showed me what Christian Bale is capable of. If you enjoy his performance in the Batman movies, this is where it all comes and stems from. Bale has always been great at getting inside of the character and showing what the character is made of.

The book that the movie was based on was meant to be a commentary on the 1980’s. The arrogance, hubris, and lack of empathy that the business world felt to the smaller man. The lead protagonist, Patrick Bateman (played by Bale), is a yuppie turned serial killer. He causing pain and suffering in different levels (real and imagined) to those around him. It’s a brilliant dark comedy (though I’m sure my grandparents wouldn’t find it the least bit funny).

American Psycho roles out and in the end you don’t know what is true, what is is imagined, and what is a lie. Did the whole film happen in his head? Was there a cover-up? Should he have fed the ATM the kitten? All in all it was a fun romp. I’ve owned it on VHS and DVD, and I’ll probably upgrade to Blu-Ray if I ever manage to bring myself to go all next gen.

I’d write more, but I have some videos I need to return.

Dark humor, but I find it to be funnier than almost all the comedy movies I’ve ever seen.

it’s not psychological realism, that’s for sure. but it is the single best use of the song “i’m walking on sunshine.” Ever.

and it reminds me of henry james. i’ll figure out why later.

ultimately not that deep. Pretty, though. And the weirdly disgusting nouveau food items were wonderful. I think one of the things that blew it for me was that Christian Bale’s performance was so intense and riveting, I didn’t believe the part of his character that was supposed to be dorky/mousy/unmemorable. Which kind of destroyed my ability to buy into a lot of his motivation.