American Pyscho (OnDemand) - Both

This movie isn't bad. It is superbly well written for the screen. The frank depiction of Patrick Bateman that Christian Bale gave was crisp and clean. It's New York's high fiance as I imagine it to be, all blank white business cards with a hint of cream etched with Payne's gray script. The juxtaposition of manic serial killing and disposable pop music make for brilliant satire. And the open ended discussion that it sparks is a nice after-dinner mint that the writer leaves the audience. Was Bateman a sadistic serial killer? Or was he simply a psychopath in his mind and truly held to societies bosom in real life? All good things. But the history I have with this movie makes it frightening to me.
When I was a senior in college I took an acting class to fill the time. We were given the assignment to memorize a monologue and then act it out in front of the class. We could choose our own monologues but the professor had to approve it. Several of my classmates immediately decided that they wanted to do a scene from this movie. I hadn't watched the movie then so I thought nothing of it. But the scenes they suggested were all turned down due to their content. I now understand why. These freshmen wanted to recite line like:
"Harold, it's Bateman, Patrick Bateman. You're my lawyer so I think you should know: I've killed a lot of people. Some girls in the apartment uptown uh, some homeless people maybe 5 or 10 um an NYU girl I met in Central Park. I left her in a parking lot behind some donut shop. I killed Bethany, my old girlfriend, with a nail gun, and some man uh some old faggot with a dog last week. I killed another girl with a chainsaw, I had to, she almost got away and uh someone else there I can't remember maybe a model, but she's dead too. And Paul Allen. I killed Paul Allen with an axe in the face, his body is dissolving in a bathtub in Hell's Kitchen. I don't want to leave anything out here. I guess I've killed maybe 20 people, maybe 40. I have tapes of a lot of it, uh some of the girls have seen the tapes. I even, um... I ate some of their brains, and I tried to cook a little. Tonight I, uh, I just had to kill a LOT of people. And I'm not sure I'm gonna get away with it this time. I guess I'll uh, I mean, ah, I guess I'm a pretty uh, I mean I guess I'm a pretty sick guy. So, if you get back tomorrow, meet me at Harry's Bar, so you know, keep your eyes open."
Not only that, but they seemed to look up to Patrick Bateman as if he were what they wanted to become! This is a character made to be wholly unlikable (he kills a dog, the worse thing a character can do). Disturbing if you ask me.

6 out of 10: Well made film, watch it if you have the stomach, though don't say I didn't warn you.