American Psycho

This film caused a major kerfufel even before it started shooting. Here in Toronto, citizens were still reeling from the crimes of Paul Bernardo, who happened to keep a copy of Bret Easton Ellis's novel on his night table. Protest again using Toronto as a location were loud and furious but Mary Harron stuck to her guns and ended up making one of the best pictures of 2000. Following the mental disintegration of businessman Patrick Bateman, who is played by Christian Bale, AMERICAN PSYCHO is a film that works on so many levels it may leave you with a headache. As a straight horror film it is unrelenting, as a comedy it is morbibly gut splitting and as a social commentary it is truly brutal. This is about all I want to tell you about this just in case you've not yet had the viewing pleasure. The great Willem Dafoe has a nice bit part as a detective but it really is the actresses I must mention. Solid, solid , solid work from Chloe Sevigny, Resee Withersppon, Samantha Matthis and Guinevere Turner help turn AMERICAN PSYCHO into the masterpiece it is and if the subject matter has been anything different I'm pretty damn sure Bale would have been given an Oscar nod. Though not for the faint of heart I still consider this to be required viewing. Hell, you may just find you know Patrick Bateman, or somebody just like him!