Not even protagonist Patrick Bateman's bloody axe strikes as close to the bone as the biting satire of American Psycho.
Based on the 1991 novel by Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho is the tale of a Wall Street broker whose best killings aren't restricted to the stock market.
Vilified for its graphic description of violence against women -- including torture and dismemberment -- the book was prime reading for schoolgirl killers Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka.
But wipe away the blood and there lay in the book a satirical attack on the over-indulgence of the '80s and the 'Me' generation that fuelled the decade.
While the message was lost in the protests against the book, there is no missing it in the film.
Under the brilliant guidance of Canadian director Mary Harron, American Psycho steers clear of becoming a slasher flick and instead uses humour as deftly as Bateman handles a nailgun to disarm and charm an audience.
Christian Bale in a career-making role stars as the narcissistic Bateman, an Upper West Side yuppie whose morals are as flat as his abs, and someone who prefers "murders and executions" to mergers and acquisitions.
All surface and no soul, Bateman is the embodiment of a generation which readily embraced style over substance, measured its worth by its material wealth and -- say it ain't so -- actually raved over Susudio.
But while Bateman might look like he's equally vacuous friends with their $75 haircuts and Nino Cerruti suits, there is more going on than meets the eye.
This guy not only gets homicidal when he sees someone sporting a better business card than him, he keeps a supermodel's head in his refrigerator, just behind the poupon mustard.
Bateman plays guide on this journey into darkness, his narrative neither apologetic nor insightful into the source of his bloodlust. He sees himself as a psychotic killer. That's all there is to him. Deal with it.
His only relationship is with his toffee-nosed fiancee Evelyn (Reese Witherspoon) whom he loathes, and his shy and sweet secretary (Chloe Sevigny), the one woman who brings out any sense of humanity in him.
So with such a dark backdrop how is American Psycho funny?
Mainly because Harron forgoes on the gore, insinuating rather than showing the violence so the focus remains on an intelligent script that remains true to the book's dialogue (Bateman's defence of his taste in music is priceless).
Even the touchy U.S. censors were at ease with the violence, choosing instead to use the threat of an NC-17 rating to force the removal of a menage-a-trois scene in which Bateman appears too detached from the job at hand (the scene is in the Canadian version).
But none of it would work without Bale, who does for Bateman what Malcolm McDowell did for Alex in A Clockwork Orange -- namely, create an icon for the ages.
(This film is rated R)
More Movie Reviews
