set in the late 80’s at the height of yuppie excess and based on the book by bret easton ellis ( who explored the same themes in another book which was also made into a movie , less than zero ) , american psycho puts a new spin on the yuppie ” genre ” that ellis helped to create .
christian bale is perfectly cast as patrick bateman , a high powered yuppie who hides a terrible secret from his fianc ? e and his colleagues .
it seems that bateman is a serial killer and , unfortunately for his contemporaries , his tenuous grasp on reality is starting to slip .
as he tries to balance his meticulous daily routines with slaughtering co-workers and prostitutes and hiding their bodies , his mental fabric slowly begins to unravel .
i was first introduced to the novel when i was still in high school .
i read an associated press article in our local sunday newspaper detailing the problems ellis was having getting his novel published due to the controversial violence in it .
as usual when anything is controversial i try to seek it out , but i soon forgot about the novel and didn’t end up thinking about it again until i stumbled across it a couple of years later at a bookstore .
i picked it up and read it , but was ultimately disappointed because it left more questions than answers .
the movie has a similar effect , but at least it’s less cryptic than ellis’ novel .
for once , a film has actually turned out to be better than the novel it was based on .
both the book and the film open with bateman describing his fastidious morning preparations ( down to exactly what facial scrubs and exfoliating creams he uses ) but the novel seems to concentrate more on these excesses throughout .
the movie continues to touch upon these things but makes more of a point to immerse us in bateman’s impending madness than to detail things as painstakingly as the novel does .
as a result , the film is immensely more entertaining .
lions gate seems to be the studio champion of controversial films ( having picked up kevin smith’s catholic-rattling dogma ) and here with american psycho there is no difference .
screenwriters mary harron and guinevere turner had the unenviable task of trying to take a novel about yuppies filled with graphic violence and sex and make a marketable film out of it .
some cuts had to be made to the finished film to keep from getting an nc-17 , mainly involving a sex scene comprising bateman and two women , and initial reports said the film was unwatchable .
thankfully , it is watchable and harron and turner have made one of the most scathingly satirical films this side of south park : bigger , longer & uncut .
side note #1 : co-writer guinevere turner also makes an appearance in the film as an ill-fated acquaintance of bateman’s who , after bateman suggests that she start making out with a female prostitute , proclaims that she’s not a lesbian nor has any interest in it .
the ironic humor of the scene stems from the fact that turner ( the writer/director of the film go fish and who also assisted kevin smith with parts of his script for chasing amy ) is a lesbian .
it’s a subtle in-joke and it’s one i found to be pretty humorous .
despite having a rather high profile supporting cast of young up-and-comers ( including reese witherspoon ) , most of the roles are a waste and are the equivalent of extended billed cameos .
the real draw here is christian bale and his over-the-top performance as patrick bateman .
whenever i read a novel i always try to imagine what it would be like as a movie and who would be perfect to cast as the characters .
i always had a hard time trying to decide who i would cast as bateman , but i never thought bale would deliver a performance as perfect as his ends up being .
to say bale runs away with the character is a vast understatement and he proves that he’s as adept at chewing scenery as al pacino or rod steiger .
one sequence in particular , involving bateman describing his love for huey lewis and the news’ song ” hip to be square ” right before burying an axe in a co-worker’s head , features one of the most eccentric and kinetic performances i have ever seen on film .
side note #2 : despite the fact that huey lewis’ ” hip to be square ” and a pair of phil collins songs appear in the film , don’t expect to see them on the soundtrack release .
huey lewis expressly requested that his song , featured in a rather large set piece in the film ( much akin to the use of ” stuck in the middle with you ” in reservoir dogs ) , not be included on any soundtrack release .
i’m assuming that collins requested the same .
on a similar note , whitney houston’s cover of ” the greatest love of all ” is also involved in a scene comparable to the other two and it is very obvious that it isn’t the houston version at all but merely an instrumental version culled from an unknown source .
apparently , houston wasn’t as open about the use of her song as the others were .
a bigger controversy than the violence and sex has been brewing since the film’s release : that of whether or not patrick has actually committed the crimes we have viewed during the course of the film .
don’t look to the book for any answers because it will only serve to confuse you more .
several web sites have been dedicated to the subject but i’m still undecided .
there is evidence both for and against but the most scathing evidence against comes from a scene near the end of the film where bateman goes on a killing spree taking out cops , old ladies , and cleaning staff with equal gusto .
the scene seemed very dream-like and as absurd as the action films it suddenly seems to be parodying ( as an example , bateman blows up a police car very cinematically after firing several shots from a handgun in the general direction of the car ) .
i kept waiting for bateman to wake up and for the film to continue on from there , but bateman never does wake up and the whole sequence , though comic , throws the film off-balance ( which i suppose was the intention ) .
other than the few flaws i have mentioned , american psycho is an incredibly entertaining film ( although you may not leave the movie fully understanding whether or not what has just transpired actually occurred in bateman’s reality ) .
i think this movie is destined for greatness as a cult film and deserves the spot it will take as such .
it may not change anyone’s life , but it will certainly have an effect .
i know i will certainly hear ” hip to be square ” in a different context the next time i hear it .
[r]