American Psycho

It would be hard to find a more scathing indictment of the 1980s than "American Psycho." You know, that book about the murderous yuppie. And if anything, the movie is even more wonderfully brutal than Brett Easton Ellis original book -- a scathing, unnerving movie that swings between savage violence and hilariously sick social satire. But what really makes it work is Christian Bale, who is utterly perfect as the titular American psycho. Every smile, snarl and twitch from this man is utterly perfect. Patrick Bateman (Bale) is the perfect yuppie -- he has a high-paying job and a beautiful fiancee (Reese Witherspoon). He dines at all the best restaurants and goes to the best clubs. He keeps his body, New York apartment and wardrobe in perfect condition, and gives detailed descriptions of his designer clothes, beauty products and music collection. But when his associate Paul (Jared Leto) flaunts a business card that is superior to Bateman's, it sends him into a psychotic rage -- first he kills an old man and his dog, then he cheerily axes Paul to death. A detective named Donald Kimball (Willem Defoe) investigates Paul's disappearance, but doesn't seem to connect Bateman to the man's disappearance despite his many lies. As the days roll by, Bateman's homicidal urges begin to spiral out of control as he kills more and more people, descending deeper and deeper into his own bloody madness. Will he finally be caught for his crimes, and will his insanity finally swallow him up? It sounds like a cliche, but "American Psycho" is all about the emptiness of a life without real substance. Every part of Patrick Bateman's life is carefully chosen for the image it gives him. Within that shell of material wealth is a howling void, and the only thing that fills that soul-destroying emptiness is hate, rage and violence. But Mary Harron doesn't preach to you. She starts the story off relatively quietly, following Bateman around his everyday life -- only interrupted by brief explosions of violence ("I want to stab you to death, and then play around with your blood"). But as the movie unfolds, the story becomes more gruesome -- and more surreal. By the finale, the world has been warped into a bloody funhouse mirror where nothing can be trusted. Consider: an ATM demands that Bateman feed it a cat... and he does. He manages to kill a prostitute by FLINGING A CHAINSAW DOWN A STAIRWELL. And he cheerfully dances through his apartment in a tidy raincoat, babbling about music right before he axes his nemesis in the head. Christian Bale is scarily brilliant in this role, in the way that only the best actors can be. Not everybody can play a psychotic this perfectly. Reportedly he based his performance on Tom Cruise, and I can see that -- Bateman greets the world with a friendly voice and a shiny smile. But his eyes are cold and empty, except when the rage and hate begins to well up behind them. And yet... and yet Bale still manages to make you feel vaguely sorry for Bateman every now and then. He's insane, empty and seems to yearn for the human connections he only knows about through songs. He's pitiable, freakish and terrifying. "American Psycho" is wickedly funny, surreal and gruesome -- and Christian Bale is utterly sublime as a psycho that nobody seems to recognize. Absolutely stunning.

Nice movie I could have given 5 stars...but... it is mostly edited due to its very violent scenes.

One of the best psychotic thriller. Since the movie has been censored. It affects the phase of the movie. Anyway watch it for Christian bale

American Psycho follows the life of Patrick Bateman, an intelligent, handsome, wealthy businessman who wants for nothing. At night however, he quickly descends into madness as he is filled with a compulsive need to kill and maim. Bateman is the ultimate yuppie, judging everyone by what they are wearing and how they are wearing it, and becomes panicked and irrational if someone has anything better than what he has. His other side is a seriously disturbed and depraved lunatic who Bateman relishes in becoming. Some don't like it, claiming it is boring or not an accurate depiction of 90's society. However, I see the film as one that paints a disturbing picture of the people at the time. Selfish, arrogant, self-obsessed with delusions of grandeur; yet they rarely genuinely contribute to society and are all essentially copies of each other, some much so that mistaken identity is a key theme of the film. The ending is second to none, superbly set up and executed. The acting is generally excellent, Christian Bale able to portray both sides of Bateman flawlessly, with similar turns from Reese Witherspoon, Willem Defoe and Jared Leto. The film is adapted from a book of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis, and I would recommend that people watch the movie before the reading the book, due to the graphic nature of the written story. All in all, a surprising film which shows social irregularities and problems that afflicted a generation and how one man chooses to deal them.

Cuando vi American Psycho, me quedé impactada por lo desconcertante y provocadora que resulta la historia. La actuación de Christian Bale es simplemente fascinante; realmente logra capturar la dualidad de Patrick Bateman, alguien que puede parecer encantador y refinado, pero que por dentro es completamente despiadado y perturbador. No podía apartar la mirada de la pantalla, incluso cuando las escenas eran incómodas o grotescas. Lo que más me atrapó fue cómo la película se burla de la superficialidad de la sociedad de los años 80, especialmente entre los ricos de Wall Street. Todo está tan obsesionado con las apariencias: la ropa, los restaurantes, las tarjetas de presentación. Es como si los personajes no tuvieran alma, lo cual hace que el comportamiento extremo de Bateman se sienta casi... ¿inevitable? La dirección de Mary Harron es brillante al equilibrar el humor negro con el terror psicológico. Hay momentos en los que te ríes, y justo después te das cuenta de lo horrible que es lo que acaba de pasar. Ese cambio de tono es lo que hace que la película se quede contigo. Eso sí, la película no es para todos. Es violenta, confusa y, a veces, surrealista. Hacia el final, no estás seguro de qué es real y qué está en la mente de Bateman. Pero creo que eso es lo que la hace tan memorable; te deja con preguntas que sigues pensando días después. En resumen, American Psycho es perturbadora y genial al mismo tiempo. Es una película que te hará sentir incómodo, pero no puedes dejar de apreciarla por lo que es: una crítica feroz y una exploración inquietante de la psique humana.

Taking place in the late 1980s in New York City, American Psycho follows Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), a 27-year-old wealthy Wall Street yuppie who lives a second life as a psychotic serial killer. The film follows a few months of his life as he keeps up his appearance of success by dining at fancy restaurants and paying for prostitutes while getting a sick enjoyment out of murdering innocent people. The film is meant to be a satirical and horrific look at the 1980s culture surrounding the "yuppies," or young people at the time setting out to get rich quick. It also satirizes masculinity itself as Bateman is a character that tries to exude a certain manliness, but also acts in a rather feminized fashion. Easily the most outstanding aspect of this film is the performance of Christian Bale as the main character. Bale did an excellent job of portraying Bateman as the psychopath he is. In some scenes, he comes off as truly despicable and terrifying, but he also does a superb job of creating the satirical side of the character and many parts of the movie and the lines he says come off as hilarious in a way to mock his narcissistic demeanor. There are many other great performances in the film as well such as Bateman's colleagues (including Jared Leto, Bill Sage, and Justin Theroux) who portray self-centered and elitist men, Willem Dafoe's portrayal of detective Donald Kimball investigating a murder that he suspects Bateman is involved in, and Chloë Sevigny as Bateman's secretary who has an unrequited crush on Bateman. The story and writing itself are another strong point of this movie. As stated above, it is mostly a satirical look at the yuppie culture taken to an extreme through a psychotic killer character. It is quite an entertaining look at the world through Bateman's otherwise empty and unfulfilling life. There is also a certain amount of surrealness to it as well as later scenes have such exaggerated levels of violence and destruction that there is a question if the crimes are real or if they are just in Bateman's imagination. The Blu-ray itself contains a few bonus features. This includes a commentary track from director Mary Harron, another commentary track by writer Guinevere Turner, deleted scenes, and a short documentary on the seedier aspects of life in 1980s New York City. Overall, I enjoyed this film. With a superb and entertaining performance by lead Christian Bale and an intelligent satire, I would recommend this movie to those that enjoy horror or satire films with a dark and comedic twist.

First things first - this was NOT a film of the book, although obviously that is where it started. Could the book have worked as a film? Hard to say. It would have been nasty, to say the least. Taking a more psychological approach and hiring a female director was the way the studio decided to approach the previously unnaproachable project and this is what they came up with. It's good, but it's a much more intellectual animal than the violent ketchup fest many may expect. Bale is simply flawless as the flawed psychopath viewers will love to watch and turns in a staggeringly accomplished performance. Heavily satirical and in places extremely funny this is one of those movies you will either love or hate and is about as far away from the typical "slasher" movie as you could get. In my opinion an essential purchase even if you only watch it once - you can always get extra value by holding your phone up to the tv and "leaving" Batemans crazed answerphone message on your friends machines....

Excelente pelicula