Huge Fan of Christian Bale

¶ … huge fan of Christian Bale ever since I saw him completely redefine the Caped Crusader in Batman Begins. He not only is a great actor, being able to play his role and deliver his lines with emotion and depth (in addition to being one handsome man), but he also is incredibly dedicated to his craft: he dropped over 60 pounds to play an insomniac in 2004's the Machinist, and then gained it all back in order to play Bruce Wayne not even a year later. It is this fervent passion that makes one really appreciate a performer, and was what led me to check out American Psycho, a film starring Bale from 2000. I knew that the movie had developed quite a cult following, but beyond that I knew nothing about the plot. I assumed, from the title as well as the movie poster, which featured Bale holding a large, shiny butcher knife, that it would contain a good amount of violence. I was right. Very right.

Based off of the eponymous satiric novel by Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho is the story of Patrick Bateman, a high-achieving investment banker in his mid-twenties who is incredibly intelligent, stunningly attractive and downright sociopathic. Frustrated by the pure inferiority all those around him, including his coworkers, fiance and random people on the street, he descends into madness, taking up brutal, methodological serial killings and then hiding the bodies to avoid being caught.

The movie is made entirely by Bale's performance: he plays Bateman with pitch-perfect zeal, and maintains his energy and intensity throughout the film, despite appearing in nearly every scene of the 100-minute film. He seemingly-effortlessly captures Bateman's ultra-narcissistic lifestyle, from his daily exercises, which he performs naked and in front of a mirror, to an ongoing, stream-of-consciousness narration, in which he bemoans the pathetic nature of all who surround him, to his scholastic reviews of music albums -- Hewy Lewis and the News and Whitney Houston in particular -- which he recites to anyone who is around to listen. At every breath and every word, the Bale oozes out Bateman's disgust for, and boredom with, society. The viewer can't help but be drawn in; Bale manages to make Bateman a sympathetic character, to the point where I was cheering to see his weak, spineless coworkers brutally murdered.

The rest of the cast serves as little more than people for Bateman to interact with, but they're recognizable and serve their purpose: Reese Witherspoon plays Bateman's clingy fiance, while Jared Leto becomes a victim of the killer's envy. Willem Dafoe is unsettling as always as a private eye who is either completely inept and unable to see Bateman's guilt, or brilliantly not letting on what he knows. The actors all seem to realize that this is Bale's film, and as a result are subservient and gutless, in contrast to Christian's defiant and confident attitude.

The direction is very well-done; Mary Herron, on her second major film, isn't afraid to draw scenes out, especially when Bateman is getting set to kill, and still manages to keep things from becoming awkward. American Psycho also has to have one of the greatest sex scenes in cinema history: Bateman picks up two prostitutes and makes love to both of them at the same time, but spends the entire scene admiring himself in the mirror, even while in the act. it's hilarious, it's disturbing and it reveals so much about who Patrick Bateman is.