American Psycho

This is a vulgar movie. It is not for everyone. Frankly, I think the audience for this movie is about as impossibly small as it could be. I don't think you could advertise a movie more accurately, but to such a select few people. This is for the artsy film viewers, those with a lot of open-mindedness, as well as those who don't feel sick at more than a few grisly sights.

This is a comedy - a very, very dark comedy. At times it's hilarious. But, they're funny in a sadistic type of way. You're not laughing at verbal jokes, you're laughing at the site of Patrick dancing around with an axe in hand, dressed in a rain coat to not spill blood on his suit while one of his business partners drinks champagne on a couch in front of him. Meanwhile, the business partner has no idea that those newspapers all around the couch are to prevent the blood from getting on the nice wooden floor. Of course, he hacks him to bits while jubilantly singing Phil Collins. If you find that funny, this movie is for you. But I assume that most of you do not, and therefore I cannot recommend this film.

But, for every scene that is hilarious, there are many more that are just rehashes of what's already been seen in the film. I grew tired of Patrick and his friends debating where to go to eat. I grew tired of hearing lines like, "We just need to have reservations." The script could have used some tweaking of some of the dialogue.

Christian Bale gives a very good performance, however. He really digs himself into the role. I cannot imagine Leonardo DiCaprio playing this character, as was originally the plan. That would have disgusted a few too many teenage girl mothers. Bale chews on his dialogue and spits it out like bullets. He gives mundane dialogue some bite in the same way that Kevin Spacey did last year in American Beauty. All right, so it wasn't that good.

The camera work, specializing in reflections of Patrick's face in axe heads, mirrors, and other shiny objects, is surprisingly tight. No scene goes wasted. They all contribute to Patrick's developing insanity. Insanity? Absolutely. This character is one of the most downright psychotic people I've ever seen in a movie.

The movie as a whole, however, did not seem to be all that enjoyable. I accept the fact that it's a satire, a very dark one, and I usually appreciate these kinds of films. I do appreciate parts of this one. I just wish that more of it could have connected with me on a different level, other than just the aggressive side and occasionally the light-hearted. It's hard to give a full recommendation to a film that fails to satisfy in so many levels of viewing pleasure.

On a scale of 1 to 10 psychotic freaks : 5