American Psycho

[licence]

What does everyone think of the film? I thought it was brilliant, but I am yet to read the book so I don't know if it was done justice or not. I'm going to read American Psycho and maybe another detached view of violence for my English dissertation so was wondering if it would be a good choice.

[kikimm]

I absolutely love this movie. It's hilarious, and definitely one of Christian Bale's best performances. Although like you, I haven't read the book either. The whole cannibalism stuff kinda puts me off, but eventually, I'd like to work up the courage to read it.

[Mirage]

I thought it was brilliant

That's because it is brilliant, my dear.

[GooeyToast]

The book is much, much better, but I love the film regardless and Christian Bale is hilarious as Bateman.

[Psychotic]

It was alright, and entertaining enough, but I wouldn't say that it's anything special.

[Shiny]

It's extremely disturbing, but oddly intriguing. A psychopathic yuppie with OCD and homophobia, you gotta love it.

[Kossage]

The book's way superior to the movie. Although I was expecting deviations from the book in the movie, I was still surprised how some scenes were dealt with (a lot of alterations and odd choices on the film makers' part), and despite some of the strengths of the movie it left a somewhat sour taste in my mouth. I can't exactly pinpoint what exactly went wrong with the movie (I'm not counting deviations from the book, because the movie as a medium just can't portray some of the crazy aspects of the book properly, so some of the alterations were necessary), but it just didn't make me as interested in the character and the setting as the novel did.

In any case Christian Bale was alright as Bateman, and I was impressed how he really tried to invest everything about himself to create Bateman on screen (with the Olympian physique, mannerisms etc.). There were some scenes from the book which I would've wanted to see in the movie, but I wonder if they were too disturbing to be included in the end (or maybe it was just one of the weird choices the film makers made in the end). The music was alright but rather forgettable, which was a shame: I would've wanted to hear some wickedly thematic and insidious music with a trendy twist to support Bateman's actions, but instead we got a mess of a score and songs which were only average.

So yeah, you should read the book, but the movie is alright as long as you don't expect a faithful adaptation of the book and as long as you can look past the movie's shortcomings.