BEFORE: I would like to amend my advice from yesterday - I recommend that you chase your dream, be it a record contract, novel, Oscar nomination, whatever. Unless that dream involves hurting others, or yourself, or animals. Because that would mean that we're at an impasse, simply because you're a sick f*ck, and you should be on somebody's watchlist.
I picked up a copy of the book "American Psycho" sometime in 1991 or so, read two paragraphs, and quickly determined that the author was a sick f*ck, so I had no desire to read any more. Which is why I delayed adding this film to the list until the very last minute. It was scheduled for next week, but then I saw that Chloe Sevigny was also in "Zodiac", and would carry over to this film.
THE PLOT: A wealthy New York investment banking executive hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he escalates deeper into his illogical, gratuitous fantasies.
AFTER: As with every night, a movie presents me with a collection of images and sounds, and I'm allowed to have whatever reaction I have. I was told by a co-worker earlier in the day that the film would be very ironic from a feminist perspective, and I'm not sure I picked up on that. There's plenty of irony, but mostly from the way that Bateman conducts himself during the day at work and his nighttime activities, killing homeless people, hookers, and countless others.
It's a rare peek inside a troubled mind, to be sure - Bateman claims to not even BE there, to just be sort of a shell of a man. We never see him do anything meaningful at the office, after all. Life is a series of lunch dates, dinner dates, social functions, and killings. Oh, and he does have a hobby, he's like SO into pop music. So he's got that going for him, appreciating the cultural significance of Genesis and Huey Lewis & The News. (Jeez, did we ever listen to "Hip to Be Square" un-ironically? Or "Walkin' on Sunshine"?)
But then there's something of an enigmatic turn, where Bateman's not sure if he's really a killer, or if those are just his fantasies. And if he's not sure, then neither are we. What am I supposed to do with that knowledge? There's a killing spree through lower Manhattan that rivals some of the fantasy sequences from "Brazil" - what is this crazy thing called "reality", anyway?
So I'm left scratching my head, unsure of what I just saw take place, not knowing who the main character really is. Is he insane because he kills people, or insane because he imagines that he does? I think the violence from the book got really toned down - if they had kept it all, the movie never would have been made. Still, it works as a satirical commentary on the 1980's in general ("Die, yuppie scum!") but if this is your idea of a good time, I can't help but worry about you.
Also starring Christian Bale (last seen in "Little Women"), Willem Dafoe (last seen in "The Clearing"), Reese Witherspoon (last seen in "Water for Elephants"), Jared Leto (last seen in "How to Make an American Quilt"), Samantha Mathis (ditto), Josh Lucas (last seen in "J. Edgar"), Justin Theroux (last seen in "Wanderlust").
RATING: 4 out of 10 business cards
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