Movie Review: American Psycho

The film American Psycho has strong references to the American consumer culture of elitists in the 1980s. However, the film main reflects popular culture among elitists in the time period but it also applies to a broader spectrum of the population. The main character is personally obsessed in a way with pop culture to be able to emulate others and apply that to how he should act.

According to imdb.com this film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival on April 14, 2000. At the time it was called a future cult classic, which seems to be the case. The film had originally acquired an NC-17 rating according to wikipedia, but cut out 18 seconds in order to get the rating changed to R. Later, in 2005, the DVD was released in two forms, an unrated uncut edition, which was the film in reference to, and a cut R rated film. Primarily the difference is confined to the shortening of the sex scene and slight dialogue alterations. According to Box Office Mojo, the film grossed 34,000,000 dollars at a production cost of only 7,000,000 dollars. A UK publication entitled "The Guardian" both Huey Lewis and the News and Whitney Houston has issues with how their music fit into the production. Huey Lewis refused to allow his music to appear in the soundtrack and Whitney Houston refused to let her song "The Greatest Love of All" be played in the film, even though it was directly referenced anyway. All of these problems were just a few of the issues surrounding the production of American Pyscho.

As mentioned this movie takes place in the 80s, more specifically 1987. A large portion of the film takes place in upscale clubs or expensive restaurants. It is set in New York City as the viewer follows around the main character Patrick Batemen. In the film P...

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...ese girls to be exposed to the violence and sexism, but he may well have ended up ruining his career. Ironically enough, Christian Bale would soon be Gloria Steinems stepson.

The film embodies consumerism. Batemen and his pals sound like an advertisement on occasion and seem to know everything about products. It seems to be a satire in that the primary humor conveyed is also the thing being commented on, consumerism. It seems as the writers deliberately exaggerated the consumerist behavior to bring attention to our own folly. In much the same way the movie depicts consumerism, it also depicts the role of a job. In Patrick Batemens case, his job only serves the purpose to fit in with the lifestyle he chooses. In effect, his choice of job is reflected as an acquisition. This whole film is a commentary on the progressing human tendencies and the illusion of identity.