"American Psycho" review

American Psycho (2000)

Directed by Mary Harron
Writing credits Mary Harron

Christian Bale.... Patrick Bateman
Justin Theroux.... Timothy Bryce
Josh Lucas.... Craig McDermott
Chloë Sevigny.... Jean
Reese Witherspoon.... Evelyn Williams
Samantha Mathis.... Courtney Rawlinson
Jared Leto.... Paul Allen

My friend and I went out to see this one. The movie started and there were scenes of Manhattan over very cheery music. I thought something was odd. Then the movie shifted to Edward Norton at a bar drinking his brains out. Hey - wait a minute. Edward Norton is the American Psycho? The whole theater starts howling and screaming. They had put "Keeping the Faith" through the projector by mistake. My friend and I were screaming, "People please! Quiet! I'm trying to watch the movie!" Suffice to say, the crowd was a bit agitated by the time the right movie started.

I thought "American Psycho" was hilarious. Most people who were there did not. I think that the majority of the audience thought it was going to be a straight slasher movie. At least some semblance of a horror flick. It's not. Satire is the right word for it. Christian Bale is fantastic as the Psycho Bateman. He's a smarmy Wall Street fake who kills people in his other life. Or does he? The movie leaves it ambiguous as to whether Bateman actually killed anybody. I assumed it was all in his head. Fantasies of murder and mayhem kept Bateman as sane as possible in the fake, back stabbing world he lived in.

It's a funny movie. Just don't expect a horror flick.

SCORE: 3 out of 4 Batemans