Runtime: 102 minutes
Directed by: Mary Harron
Starring: Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Josh Lucas, Reese Witherspoon
From: Lionsgate
Until last night, you could have put on my business card “I have never seen American Psycho.” Looking at Letterboxd and noting that over 1 million (!) have given the movie a vote—it was about time to weigh in myself. Additionally, due to a request from a Letterboxd mutual yesterday evening I finally saw this motion picture that served as my Friday night entertainment. As to WHY it took 23 years for it to happen... I knew the Bret Easton Ellis book was controversial and it was very well possible that the film would be quite the turn-off. After all, following a narcissistic 80's yuppie who is also a serial killer spiraling out of control... that could have gone quite bad. Today, that belief makes me look like a buffoon who would obsess over my and my friend's business cards...
What I almost always do is see a movie then write part to all of the review the next day. Sleeping on it is one reason why this arrangement works well for me. The time spent ruminating about a film sometimes is to everyone's benefit; the realization hit that this does deserve quite high marks. As we follow Patrick Bateman, a successful investment banker in 1980's New York City, the viewer eventually realizes that he is a rather pathetic person. Sure, he has material wealth and multiple women, but is part of a pitiful rat race where dining at frou-frou restaurants is of paramount importance , he obsesses over 80's pop like a dork to the point he blathers on about it, and his obsession over his appearance masks plenty of self-doubt. That's even before the whole “killing people and at one point, a dog” thing... the targets of his wrath is social commentary in of itself, one of many points that should be dissected by the viewer.
To think that a woman (Mary Harron) directed the film and she & Guinevere Turner adapted the novel which so successfully skewers such topics as 80's excesses and incredibly shallow men-Bateman's buddies are also tools-along with examining mental illness... both women deserve credit for the job they did here. Yet, Harron never got the chance again to direct such a high-profile picture. It has a KILLER cast both male (Internet “favorite” Jared Leto, Willem Dafoe) and female (Chloe Sevigny, Reese Witherspoon) along with a great period soundtrack. Yet of course it was Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman which made the movie. What a complex character he was who experienced plenty of emotions throughout... Bale nailed the role perfectly in appearance, tone, mannerisms, narration, and all the rest. I couldn't imagine Leonardo DiCaprio in that role, which almost happened.
Seeing Jared Leto's name in the credits did earn a hearty laugh-the film has a whole has plenty of those, although most are incredibly dark-solely due to the Internet theory of “People forget or don't even know most of Jared Leto's film roles” and that was the case for me here. I'm not sure how the film spawned various memes-some of which I've known of for a few years now-but finally this got crossed off the list. Right after viewing last night, I was not sure if I would ever see this again due to its overall tone. Now, that likely won't ever get mentioned here in the future but after contemplation, one day many moons from now I should do such a thing. It's the type of movie to be watched more than once; at least there won't be any physical rentals involved and thus there are no worries about returning videotapes...
One last thing: what Letterboxd reviews I like before posting this was done at random. There are so many that it'd take too long to go through. Many did write admittedly better and more probing examinations of why American Psycho was moving to them.
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