I just watched this movie. It’s so bad! Why? What am I missing?
I guess it depends on the viewer’s tastes. It was hilarious to me personally. The overly serious way he describes his metrosexual routine, the importance of the quality of business cards, etc. The horror aspect and gore takes a backseat for me and I view it as a comedy.
I always thought that was the point of it. To be comment on the absurdity of stereotypical businessmen of the time. All wearing the same “uniform,” using the same business cards, indistinguishable from one another.
It is a comedy! Its all one huge absurd comedy of the fragile, toxic masculine existence. So you’ve nailed it.
To really really love this film, you kinda have to be familiar with the era that this film came from. Specifically, the absolute love of money=success of the yuppie culture of the 80’s. Also, ultra violence was a big thing in movies from that time.
For more context, watch Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street” with Michael (greed is good) Douglass.
Rented this movie with my roommates in college. Fairly early on, the one from India blurts out, “What the fuck are we watching?!” So at least you’re not alone in Not Getting It.
I’d say it’s about horror-comedy. Tension that could become absurd or horrifying or both. Exemplified in abundance when Christian Bale leaps around a corner with nothing but tennis shoes and a running chainsaw. Message be damned - the film has your attention. And the payoff is watching that chainsaw tumble down a staircase, barely knowing what you want to happen.
That’s set against literally bloodless surprises, creating unease by allowing no solid ground. You’re watching a movie called Rich Prick Kills People and you’ve watched this rich prick kill people and you’re not one hundred percent sure whether this rich prick actually killed people. There’s no spoilery answer because it’s not about that.
‘Why is this film popular?’ is mostly a matter of good acting, good pace, and some extremely memorable bits. Unfortunately the shock value is steeply diminished if you know they’re coming… and the best parts became stock references for the 4chan generation.
‘Why is this film important?’ involves an admittedly shallow discussion of postmodernism. Patrick Bateman is trapped in hyperreality. It is so convincingly artificial that it has subsumed the real world. “Objects have won.” He is so deep in the fake-world economics of useless boardroom executive horseshit that even murdering his fellow vice presidents has no impact. The system folds right over it like it never happened. This impotence extends to the sex workers and service workers he tries to lash out at: it does not matter. His most vile and id-crazed fantasies cannot so much as stain a closet.
… and of course there’s a fandom of dipshits who think this useless maniac is the coolest guy evarrr.
Yeah, that’s what I meant to say.
I was literally about to say that. Dude stole my post.
So you don’t like Huey Lewis and The News?
Their early work was a little too new wave for my taste. But when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism… that really gives the songs a big boost.
Why do you feel it was bad?
Feels like Fight Club to me where there is a subset of young men who like it, not recognizing it’s a parody. Then there’s people who get it and like it as a comedy. And the obviousness of which is which is not always clear, so you will never see me talking about whether I like it or not because it invites the first type.
Big overlap with the “I liked Rage Against The Machine, until they started getting political” crowd.
The not getting that you’re being called out for loving the violence and fascism part of the movie reminds me of Verhoven films like “Starship Troopers” and “Robocop”.
People who think you’re supposed to like Bateman are people you don’t need to associate with, its a great litmus test
I like vanilla, some people like chocolate
Chocolate is objectively better
Chocolate desserts always have vanilla in them, vanilla never has chocolate in it.
Just think about that for a minute…
Chocolate enjoyers appreciate vanilla, so they add it to chocolate, because it makes it better. Chocolate enjoyers are more open and intelligent and appreciate their “enemy”, unlike delusional vanilla fans
What the fuck am I doing with my life
You’re busy actively being correct. That’s what you’re doing.
Lol, I’ll give you the upvote for the entertainment!
Vanilla is so… Vanilla. (Though I think both have their place)
Lol, OK, I’ll give you that phrase at least.
But I disagree that vanilla is any kind of simple or plain. It makes chocolate more chocolatey. It adds complexity and depth wherever it goes.
I really do prefer it over chocolate.
I only know the other way around. Vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup is great.
Isn’t vanilla made from beaver ass holes or something
Chocolate is terrible. Vanilla and especially strawberry are good.
Stop trying to make “objectively” the new “literally”
edit: nvm, I see you’re just doing some good trolling. gg
I think it’s hilarious tbh
What is hilarious about it? The only scene that got me a chuckle was when he was narrating his entrance to a restaurant with his fiancé after one of the murders: “I entered the [restaurant name] and immediately a chill went down my spine: <dramatic pause> I was afraid there would be no good tables left.”
I’d love to explain but unfortunately I have to return some video tapes.
Do you like it for the memes, too? It’s Napoleon Dynamite all over again.
I think it’s an anti-capitalist thing. If you already genuinely see these Wall Street, corpo ghouls as murderers in real life, then the movie’s dramatization of their hyperbolic desire for gratuitous murder and torture encapsulated in one “American psycho” becomes an inside joke making fun of the entire USian hyper-capitalist mode of life which lives at the expense of everyone else’s suffering and death.
It’s hard to explain, I haven’t seen it in a very long time. Just kind of a dark comedy thing.
The message is very clear (in your face). The fact that everybody keeps mistaking the VPs for one another because they’re indistinguishable is another point. But what is funny about it?
for bergson, comedy comes from the overlap of the material and the human. bateman is a robotic character, embodying this duality in himself, and exists in a highly satirical environment.
Henri Bergson?
Again, the message can be clear, sure, but if you’re a committed anti-capitalist then it transcends the simple message and it becomes like an inside joke.
It’s like cathartic release and you enjoy seeing the enemy depicted in all its petty, murderous AmeriKKKan evil.
It’s almost like Always Sunny or something. The joke is that these people are huge vapid pieces of shit. If it isn’t for you that’s fair enough, but watching Bateman in a cab ignoring his lady friend because he’s listening to his cassette player is just so funny to me. Or tricking his drugged up mistress that they went to a fancier restaurant that he couldn’t get seats at.
And of course when you already hate these Wall Street clowns it also hits on an ideological level which is a bonus.
Also who doesn’t want to see Jared Leto get adjusted to the head with an axe?
I think it’s just fun to see Christian Bale convincingly play a psychopath lol
You can also see him play a psycho behind the scenes of “Terminator Salvation”.
I don’t really remember it, so I guess it isn’t very memorable. It seems not to have been especially praised by critics, nor by the author. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Psycho_(film)#Reception
Original author [Bret Easton] Ellis said, “American Psycho was a book I didn’t think needed to be turned into a movie”, as “the medium of film demands answers”, which would make the book “infinitely less interesting”. He also said that while the book attempted to add ambiguity to the events and to Bateman’s reliability as a narrator, the film appeared to make them completely literal before confusing the issue at the very end.
It’s hilarious! My favorite Bale performance easily. Willem Dafoe is excellent too. I love the whole over-the-top 80s NYC yuppie caricature.
It’s also a scathing nightmare parable about the raw pursuit of wealth and influence.
I watched it for the first time the other day. I didn’t hate it, but it wasn’t at all what I expected, and I’m kind of surprised it has the profile it does. I quite liked the ambiguity of a lot of it though.
Interested to see what responses you get here.
I don’t hate it. It’s just a massive let down.
What about it was a let down to you? To me, there’s so many quotable moments and the acting is great. The whole thing is dark as hell while somehow being hilarious. It even leaves some things open to interpretation
This is from me in another thread:
Many things taken together: The message is too “in your face”. The comedy is weak. The story not engaging enough, lots of false starts but no follow through.
The acting is good though, and there were some tits. Overall 2/5. Not bad enough to matter, just “meh”. Which is why it confuses me that it enthralled so many people.
Totally fair. Out of curiosity what movies are your favourites? I assume a Clockwork Orange given your username, which I fully endorse haha. Great movie
Oh, tough one. A clockwork orange is certainly up there. 2001 is also another great one. “The man who wasn’t there” is a neo noir gem that’s underrated and I keep coming back to — most of the time watching desaturated in black and white. Alien, Blade Runner, and Her tied for sci-fi (very different sub genres). The good, the bad, and the ugly. Requiem for a dream.
Damn, the list goes on and on. What about you?
Oh 2001 is great. I haven’t seen The man who wasn’t there or many other neo noirs but Blade Runner and Her are some really good movies. Requiem for a Dream is actually in my top ten personally as well.
I’m generally a fan of weird horror though. Some of my personal favourites are In the Mouth of Madness, Eyes Wide Shut, Antichrist, Little Bone Lodge. Outside of horror I really like dramatizations of history like Judas and the Black Messiah, BlacKkKlansman, Gangs of New York, The King, etc.
Then there’s the classics like the original Wicker Man, They Live, Scarface, Se7en, Inglorious Basterds, Fear and Loathing and all those… (edit: and of course, American Psycho)
I have too many movies saved to my favourites on Jellyfin apparently.
Semi related but if you’re ever in the mood for a super cheesy horror comedy, I can recommend Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter :). I’m biased because it was filmed in my city
Our tastes match a lot. There’s more than one recommendation to add to my list in your comment. Thanks and happy new year!
Why do you think it’s bad?
What do you find bad about it? Do you have specifics?
Many things taken together: The message is too “in your face”. The comedy is weak. The story not engaging enough, lots of false starts but no follow through.
The acting is good though, and there were some tits. Overall 2/5. Not bad enough to matter, just “meh”. Which is why it confuses me that it enthralled so many people.
It maybe the time and place. Watching it now we might be too far away from the 80s to have it still resonate. Back in the 80s there was a few people like Bateman. So the commentary on the era while it was still fresh in memory that really added to the humor.
This is an important point.
All texts (writing, film, other media) are constructed against their contemporary cultural context, and rely on that context to give them meaning.
Ever watch stand-up comedy from a decade ago? Even if you laughed yourself sick at it at the time… it ages extremely badly, since it’s so intimately tied into the whole vibe of the time.
The more generic the work, the longer its use-by date - but of course, the less likely it is to be memorable.
After a time, all things die. And that’s okay.
The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.
It reminds me of that Trump movie that came out recently. 80s Trump was exactly the kind of guy that Patrick Bateman is a parody of.
Exactly perfect example people that are so insecure in who they are and lack any character they will kill to keep their delusions going.
You could try the book… The movie is quite tame compared to the book though. It sketches a very detailed look into the time as well. Iirc there are about five pages in wich Bateman explains why he loves certain music albums. And of course his whole morning routine… I really liked it.
Gods no, I hated him explaining music in the movie. I get that it’s important to highlight how he’s just pretending to be human while parroting stuff some critic wrote, but ugh…
Buttoning up his raincoat while reciting a critique of Genesis, solid gold.
For the memes.
