American Psycho

WARNING: This post contains speculation and spoilers. Do not read if you intend to watch this movie, which is not for everybody, by the way.

After 8 years, I finally had the opportunity to watch American Psycho and, despite all the pent up expectation, I could not immediately bring myself to like or dislike the film.

I'm not saying that is a bad thing. In fact, it's been quite some time since I watched a movie that I had to sit down and think about. In fact, I will probably still have to watch a few more times before I can understand exactly what happened (for example, did Bateman actually kill Paul, or was that imagined?).

I speculate that half of the movie is comprised of Patrick Bateman's sick and twisted imagination, and the other half of the movie is reality. After having seen the movie one time, I think that the central murder - the murder of Paul Allen - was a fantasy brought on by jealousy. I think that the murder of the homeless man in the alley - the first murder in the film that the audience witnesses - was reality. During his exchange with the homeless man, Patrick made it exceptionally clear that he and the man had nothing in common, almost as if he was trying to convince himself that was the case both socially and personally. In reality, and one of the things the movie does make abundantly clear, is that Bateman is an insignificant yuppie riding his father's coattails to success. His interactions with the more successful Paul Allen are riddled with deceit and it is this deceit that makes me believe Bateman is insecure with himself and his standing, and is ultimately why I don't think he could have committed the murder of his counterpart.

For those of you who don't really care about the deeper meaning and speculation stuff, or for those of you who enjoy that and good old fashioned gore and action (like me), this movie provides us with plenty of both.

As interesting as it is sick and twisted, this is a good film.

Rating: 7.5/10