American Psycho

Its quite hard to try to categorize AMERICAN PSYCHO. Its certainly not a horror film, but although its suspenseful, its also not a suspense film. Theres a few jokes, but its not a black comedy, and its very dramatic, but its no drama. There's no actual storyline to the movie, so there's no way they can actually build to a climax. I thought all of these ideas were awesome, but one of my other buddies, who also saw it last night, thought it was a piece of shit. He's a fan of big budget action flicks, though. Its rare that he wants to think during a movie (he also hated eXistenZ!), so I won't take his critique into account.

The movie is pretty much a statement by the killer, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale). It would be like if you went out and became a serial killer and then, years later, decided to write a detailed book about it. AMERICAN PSYCHO is actually one of the most entertaining movies I've seen in quite a while, because you get to have all of those cool FIGHT CLUB-esque conversations about it once the movie is over. Even the title itself is worthy of discussion. Is it a play the term "American Dream", in that all Patrick wants to do is climb the ladder of success, no matter who he has to kill to get there? The choice of this, and every question in the film, are left for you to answer at its close. There's no resolution here.

One of the other great things about the movie is the dialogue. Much of the film is comprised of the inner-monologue of Patrick - and the geniuses behind his speech blew me away. There's one scene where these businessmen are comparing business cards and the dialogue these guys have is incredible. They aren't talking about anything life changing, it's just the way they speak. It sounds exactly like what those suit-wearing assholes really are like - and it shows how immature they all still are after all those years at Harvard and Yale.

Now, this is not to say that there isn't an ample amount of violence in it... People get stabbed, animals are brutally murdered, a woman is given an offscreen abortion with a coat hanger, and MUCH more. The creepiest thing about the violence, however, is how starkly realistic it all is. I mean, there's a difference between a slasher film and this thing. You feel like YOU'RE the killer and every time Patrick offs someone, you're not sure whether you should be screaming "YEAH!" or begging him not to do it. Even I, a horror buff for years, was at odds.

When you folks finally see it, some of you should let me know what you think the end meant. I won't give it away here, but I can say what I believe the underlying message of the entire film really was. Its that everywhere we look, there are people who are pushed too far. There are guys that we brush up against in the halls and folks that we glare at while driving. We need to watch ourselves, because we really don't know the mental stability of people nowadays. A nerdy neighbor might just need that little push to become a manaic - just as Patrick needs in the film. Stockbroker by day, homocidal maniac by night. He could be anyone. As you can see by the little tangent I went off on, I was very impressed by the film. I really hope that what I've written will give you a deeper understanding of what is actually a very intellectual, high-class film. If you go into it, not expecting a horror film, action, or anything too crazy, you'll get a kick out of it. Its undefinable, but enjoyable...

Oh yeah, and listening to Patrick explain why Huey Lewis is a good rock star while chopping some guy's head into sticky little pieces is fucking awesome. You certainly can't beat that for a $6.50 movie ticket.