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American Psycho CDN$ 11.96

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The Bret Easton Ellis novel American Psycho, a dark, violent satire of the "me" culture of Ronald Reagan's 1980s, is certainly one of the most controversial books of the '90s, and that notoriety fueled its bestseller status. This smart, savvy adaptation by Mary Harron (I Shot Andy Warhol) may be able to ride the crest of the notoriety; prior to the film's release, Harron fought a ratings battle (ironically, for depictions of sex rather than violence), but at the time the director stated, "We're rescuing [the book] from its own bad reputation." Harron and co-screenwriter Guinevere Turner (Go Fish) overcome many of the objections of Ellis's novel by keeping the most extreme violence offscreen (sometimes just barely), suggesting the reign of terror of yuppie killer Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) with splashes of blood and personal souvenirs. Bale is razor sharp as the blank corporate drone, a preening tiger in designer suits whose speaking voice is part salesman, part self-help guru, and completely artificial. Carrying himself with the poised confidence of a male model, he spends his days in a numbing world of status-symbol one-upmanship and soul-sapping small talk, but breaks out at night with smirking explosions of homicide, accomplished with the fastidious care of a hopeless obsessive. The film's approach to this mayhem is simultaneously shocking and discreet; even Bateman's outrageous naked charge with a chainsaw is most notable for the impossibly polished and gleaming instrument of death. Harron's film is a hilarious, cheerfully insidious hall of mirrors all pointed inward, slowly cracking as the portrait becomes increasingly grotesque and insane. --Sean Axmaker

Additional Features
Prior to the theatrical release of American Psycho, director Mary Harron agreed to shorten one scene in order to avoid the dreaded NC-17 rating. The controversial scene--in which Christian Bale's character engages in wild sexual activity with two prostitutes--has been restored to its original pre-release length for the film's unrated release on VHS and DVD. Apart from the shortening of this scene, the R-rated and unrated versions of the film are identical.

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250 Reviews 5 star:  (96) 4 star:  (64) 3 star:  (33) 2 star:  (20) 1 star:  (37)           Average Customer Review (250 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most helpful customer reviews   1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: "I like to dissect girls. Did you know I'm utterly insane?", Jul 11 2007 By  Kasey Driscoll (Raynham, MA United States) - See all my reviews       This review is from: American Psycho (Killer Collector's Edition) (DVD) Mary Harron's film is a depiction of the Bret Easton Ellis (Rules of Attraction, Less Than Zero) controversial novel of the same name. It's only significant difference is that it leaves out some of the more gruesome scenarios in Ellis's book. I'm not sure whether that's a drawback or not but there was some rage missing in our killer's actions. The film operates as a first person narrative and contains the same kind of oddball combinations of extreme violence and dark humor. This kind of humor is exactly my kind of humor, so I laughed at American Psycho throughout. Mary Harron also seemed to recognize that the novel was old enough that she should approach the film as a period piece and she executes this well. Everything about this movie feels like the late 1980s. She creates a virtual remake of the novel as I pictured it in my head years ago. From what I understand Harron also fought hard to keep the role of Patrick Bateman (the title character and the story's protagonist) in the capable hands of Christian Bale. Bale is outstanding here and Harron really seems to be a directorial force with her actors. Patrick Bateman is a 27 year-old wealthy and successful investor. He is clearly a product of a privileged and ultra-competitive background. We follow him around and listen to all of his observations of the world he lives in. This is of course the yuppie culture of the 1980s. Perhaps Bateman is the extreme yuppie and a harbinger to the ills of this socially produced subgroup and the culture they exist in. As it turns out his world features the substantiality that he is indeed a murderer. Unfortunately no one seems to notice this, despite his blatant and at times hilariously dry claims that he is a psycho. Evidence of his murders also seemed to disappear quite easily. American Psycho, like the novel, is a great satire that might leave viewers with some frustrating questions in the end. What was real and what was imaginary? The rest of the cast includes Wilem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Chloë Sevigny, and Reese Witherspoon. All are fairly effective within their roles but the film weighed heavily on Bale's performance. He understands Patrick Bateman