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Format: VHS
Sep 2000
Unrated
Recording Mode: Stereo Surround
Sound: Stereo, Surround
103 min.
Color
Extra Info: Unrated
UPC: 096898646932 |
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* ML=ships from multiple locations, AE/AP/AA=ships from U.S. Military location.
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* ML=ships from multiple locations, AE/AP/AA=ships from U.S. Military location.
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Movie Description
A cunning indictment of the materialism of the 1980s, AMERICAN PSYCHO is Mary Harron's (I SHOT ANDY WARHOL) and Guinevere Turner's (GO FISH) deft interpretation of the dark and violent Brett Easton Ellis novel of the same name. Christian Bale (VELVET GOLDMINE) plays Patrick Bateman, the personification of the "me" culture of Ronald Reagan's 1980s. Imprisoned in an inane corporate existence fueled by status symbols, small talk, and gossip, Bateman begins a bloody reign of terror on nearly all that cross his path. The film's gray and navy mise-en-scene is filled with chilly, vacant streets, hard-edged skyscrapers and cold interiors flecked with the latest technological gadgets and designer flourishes. Mary Harron's camera glides through these spaces with the undisturbed detachment of a shark. Bale is a razor sharp Bateman whose cool, predatory grace is only matched by the equally indifferent corporate world in which he lives. Even during its most hideous scene, when a naked, chain-saw-toting Bateman goes on a screaming rampage, AMERICAN PSYCHO manages to project a cold indifference that has terrifying undertones. Harron's film is a frightening denunciation of a consumer culture gone amuck with greed, materialism and a lack of nearly any charity whatsoever.
Synopsis
Mary Harron (I SHOT ANDY WARHOL) and Guinevere Turner's (GO FISH) adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's controversial novel distills the critically maligned book down to its ironic, satirical core. Wisely situating most of the novel's grisly action off-screen, Harron employs violence as a metaphor for the spiritually vacant materialism and corporate machismo of the Reagan '80s. Christian Bale (VELVET GOLDMINE) delivers a shining performance as the status-obsessed, psychotic broker Patrick Bateman--self-proclaimed expert in "murders and executions." Traveling amongst narcissistic, misogynistic, barely discernable corporate clones, Patrick spends his workdays obsessing over tasteful business cards, designer suits, and prime reservations at trendy restaurants. After hours, he dismembers prostitutes, models, transients, and literally gives a co-worker the axe in a series of increasingly surreal episodes, all prefaced by demented lectures on the virtues of Phil Collins, Whitney Houston, and Huey Lewis. Chloe Sevigny (BOYS DON'T CRY) and Resse Witherspoon (ELECTION), as Patrick's secretary and fiance’ turn in strong performances, and Andrzej Sekula's stylish cinematography lends the film a stark, uber-modern aesthetic reminiscent of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. While AMERICAN PSYCHO does not venture deeply into the mind of its sick protagonist, it offers a sharp satire of the dark side of yuppie culture.
Film Notes
Released theatrically April 14, 2000
Filmed in New York City and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Leonardo DiCaprio, an early consideration for the role of Patrick Bateman, decided to star in THE BEACH instead.
To clean the movie up and acheive a relatively mild R-rating, the producers excised approximately eighteen seconds of footage from a menage-a-trois scene featuring an emotionally detached Patrick Bateman and two women (one of whom was co-writer Guinevere Turner).
The song "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina & The Waves, which runs during the establishing shots of New York City and Wall Street, makes an ironic reference to Michael J. Fox's THE SECRET OF MY SUCCESS, which also features the song.
While working out, Patrick Bateman watches Tobe Hooper's TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. Several scenes later he pursues a victim with a chainsaw.
Huey Lewis, objecting to the violence of AMERICAN PSYCHO, insisted producers remove his song "Hip To Be Square" from the official soundtrack album.
Industry Reviews
"...A satire of conspicuous consumption..."
Variety - p.34 - Dennis Harvey
"...An ingenious adaptation....Excellent direction and a set of self-effacing performances..."
Sight and Sound - p.42 - Tony Rayns
"...A mordantly funny and agreeably blatant satire with genuinely subversive bite..."
Film Comment - p.72 - Gavin Smith
"...AMERICAN PSYCHO is really brilliant in the way it takes the viewer inside Bateman's world..." -- 4 out of 5 stars
Box Office - Annlee Ellingson (04/01/2000)
"...Dead-on, kitsch-free period detail and a wonderfully agitated performance by Bale..." -- 3 out of 5 stars - A Satisfying Rental
Premiere - p.88 - Kerrie Mitchell
"[D]irector Mary Harron impressively mines the dark social comedy from this scathing satire of the 1980s."
Entertainment Weekly - Jeff Labrecque (06/24/2005)
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