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American Psycho| Director: | Mary Harron | | Writers: | Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner | | Lions Gate Films; R; 104 minutes | | Release: | 4/00 | | Cast: | Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Chlöe Sevigny, Reese Witherspoon |
American Psycho is far more effective and interesting than the novel on which it was based. Director Mary Harron distills Bret Ellis Easton's overly descriptive psychotic death yarn into a tense little tale about materialism, narcissism, and corporate culture. She launches trenchant satire against unchecked maleness. The synopsis remains the same: a Wall Street executive leads a double life as a serial killer. Harron sharpens the focus, choosing only great, meaningful details. The yuppie in question, Bateman (Christian Bale), waxes profound on such pop greats as Huey Lewis and the News before murdering his victims. Harron opens American Psycho with a lengthy description of Bateman's daily ablutions, cataloguing the many skin and hair care products involved. Welsh actor Christian Bale plays the bland, spoiled cipher of Bateman exquisitely. He even gets the snobby prep school accent right. In one of the movie's finest conceits, the anonymous power of the white male turns into a running joke: Bateman is repeatedly mistaken for other men. The supporting actors are all top-notch: Willem Dafoe's private investigator, Chlöe Sevigny's vulnerable secretary, Reese Witherspoon's vapid socialite fiancee. Entertaining commentary with bloodlust to boot.
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. More on American Psycho from Infoplease:
- American Psycho - Starring Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Reese Witherspoon, Samantha Mathis
- Bret Easton Ellis - Biography of Bret Easton Ellis, The author of Less Than Zero
- Donna Tartt - Biography of Donna Tartt, Author of The Secret History
- Chloë Sevigny - Biography of Chloë Sevigny, Art film regular and female lead of The Brown Bunny
- Jared Leto - Biography of Jared Leto, Star of Prefontaine and singer for 30 Seconds to Mars
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