directed by mary harron . screenplay by harron and guinevere turner , from the novel by bret easton ellis . starring christian bale , chloe sevigny , willem dafoe . running time : 102 minutes . rated r for extreme violence and graphic sexual content ( mfcb ) . reviewed on april 17th , 2000 . few movies have engendered such controversy as " american psycho " . not only has there been concern over its violent and sexual content , but the 1991 bret easton ellis novel upon which the film is based is notorious for having been read by karla homolka , accomplice of convicted sex murderer paul bernardo . but those who have sought to censor " american psycho " have done so with little merit . this is not a movie about murder per se , and any intelligent watching of the film should make that obvious . does the lead character , patrick bateman , kill people ? yes , and the implication is that many more die off-screen . but this very fact -- that much of bateman's crime spree is referred to only in passing -- makes it clear that the movie is less concerned about his deeds than about bateman himself . the killings themselves are alternately comical and dispassionate . there is none of the frenzied bloodlust of " natural born killers " ( another good film about murderers , but one that is very different in its approach to the material ) . in one of the movie's best scenes , for instance , bateman is more concerned with keeping his clothes and apartment clean , and with discussing the merits of huey lewis , than with the actual process of murdering a colleague . instead , " american psycho " works on two levels . first , and most obviously , it is a character study of patrick bateman , a complex and difficult role played splendidly by christian bale . and second , it serves as a scathing indictment of the 1980s , of the shallow and materialistic values which were the hallmark of that decade and which still play an all-too-important role in western society . patrick bateman is a mid-level executive in his late twenties . his day seems to consist mostly of " meetings " with other mid-level executives , which essentially amount to contests of ego ( we never actually see them doing anything work-related ) . bragging rights are determined by the quality of their business cards and their ability to secure reservations at chic restaurants . several of them are engaged , but this seems purely for show ; they fool around on one another with only the barest of nods toward secrecy . certainly , bateman's relationship with his own fiancee , evelyn ( reese witherspoon ) , is cold and loveless . indeed , bateman and the others are so similar that it almost feels as though they have been churned out on an assembly line . their slicked-back hairstyles , their style of dress , their mode of speech -- all are virtually identical . a running gag is made of the way bateman is constantly mistaken for others ( he doesn't even bother to correct the error , and just plays along ) . but unlike his confreres , bateman has a secret : he is a murderer , who has already killed as the movie opens and kills again , many times , over the course of the picture . " american psycho " does not concern itself with the whys of bateman's psychosis ; it is more interested in his mentality now that he has succumbed to his murderous impulses . bateman , we learn , thinks of himself as nothing but an empty , hollow shell , as conveyed effectively by a number of visuals . early on , bateman removes a transparent moisturizing face mask to reveal the same face underneath : his flesh hides no further depths . later , bateman gazes into a polished surface , but there is only the barest of reflections . " there is simply nothing there , " he says of himself . indeed , bateman does not have a line of dialogue which is heartfelt or honest . when he does speak , it is simply to maintain appearances , and it is as though he is regurgitating words heard or read elsewhere ; his favorite subject is popular music , but his opinions feel lifted out of the latest " rolling stone " . bateman is entirely self-absorbed , seeking to mold the world to his own preferences without fully committing himself to that world . he instructs his secretary , jean ( chloe sevigny ) , how to dress , and treats himself with a litany of body-care products . indeed , the murders he commits can be seen as the ultimate extension of this thirst for control . in one telling scene , bateman engages in a three-way sex scene with two prostitutes , but spends the whole time watching his own performance in the mirror ; rather than arousing , the proceedings are perfunctory and emotionless ( making it all the more strange that this was the scene ordered trimmed from the us release by the mpaa ; the canadian version , fortunately , is unabridged ) . " american psycho " grows increasingly bizarre as the story unfolds . the reality of the film seems to be influenced by bateman's own grip on sanity , and as his psychosis grows , the movie becomes more and more surreal . unusually , for a picture with such disturbing subject matter , this lends an air of comedy to the whole thing . some viewers may find this juxtaposition uncomfortable , but director mary harron reaches the right balance , and the humor only serves to further augment bateman's dementia . apart from bale's standout performance , none of the other actors are memorable , mired as they are in vacuous and superficial parts . willem dafoe occupies a particularly odd role , as a detective investigating one of bateman's killings . it seems fairly clear that he knows bateman is the murderer , and yet this particular subplot simply peters out . indeed , some may take issue with the way the movie as a whole just kind of stops , rather than reaching some kind of definitive conclusion . but i find it hard to take issue with this technique ; the movie is , above all else , a character sketch , and once it has nothing new to say about patrick bateman , it sensibly ends . what kind of ending could " american psycho " really have had , without it seeming superfluous ? " american psycho " is an excellent character piece , marred only by a lack of supporting material . the look it provides into the mind of a serial killer is both chilling and sobering -- for , despite patrick bateman's obvious and self-confessed insanity , how far removed is he really from the rest of us ? now , if you'll excuse me , i have to return some videos . copyright © 2000 shannon patrick sullivan . archived at the popcorn gallery , <a href= " http : //www . physics . mun . ca/~sps/movies/americanpsycho . html " >http : //www . physics . mun . ca/~sps/movies/americanpsycho . html</a> -- _______________________________________________________________________ / shannon patrick sullivan | " we are all in the gutter , but some of us \ | <a href= " mailto : shannon@morgan . ucs . mun . ca " >shannon@morgan . ucs . mun . ca</a> | are looking at the stars . 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