American Psycho

February 6, 2010 - Christian Bale acts out murderous fantasies at night while playing the role of harmless Wall Street executive during the day. The cast also includes Willem Dafoe, Reese Witherspoon and Chloë Sevigny. Based on a book by Bret Easton Ellis, who also brought us the example of Eighties excess known as Less Than Zero.

American Psycho features Bale as Patrick Bateman, an ostensibly successful Wall Street type. On the outside, everything is great. He has a great job, a great apartment, a great body and a great girlfriend. Even so, he's generic enough that he's always being mistaken for someone else. He also has a bad case of business card envy, and he doesn’t have enough pull to get short-notice reservations at the trendiest restaurants in town.

Maybe thats why, on the inside, all Bateman wants to do is kill people. He tries to channel his evil energies into exercise and porn. But, ultimately, he submits to his murderous desires, often killing his victims after imparting to them his self-important views on Phil Collins, Whitney Houston and various other pop stars of the day.

Overall review: *** Bale is very good as a man who says all he wants to do is fit in but who just doesn't seem to fit in anywhere. He's living a life he hates which, when you think about it, can be damned infuriating. Add in self-absorbed friends and co-workers who don’t seem to notice your own self-loathing, and it's enough to drive almost anyone crazy.