2000 - Rated NC-17 - 1 hr 42 min
Director: Mary Harron
Starring: Christian Bale, Justin Therouz, Josh Lucas, Chloe Sevigny, Reese Witherspoon, Samantha Mathis, Jared Leto, Willem Dafoe
I must be some kind of sicko, because I think this movie is freaking genius. And the gore is amazing. Weird, right? (SPOILER ALERT)
If you can watch this movie in the way the filmmaker intended you too, however, it has so much to say. The general gratuitousness of the 1980's lifestyle, the dark secluded recesses of our minds that most of us don't indulge, the two-sidedness of the human condition, and the corruptness and idleness at the top of the corporate chain... Bateman's fantasies are blended seamlessly into the true scenes of the movie, so your experience is the way he'd like to tell it to you. He believes he's done these things, and by the end of the movie, you'll be confused about it yourself.
In fact, the "did he or didn't he" conversation happens nearly every time we watch the movie. They never explain it in the film, but his friends' refusal to believe him and the whole "his victims are still alive" thing clears it up pretty well. But as I said, the murder scenes are depicted so realistically, I can see where the confusion comes in.
Anyway. I love this movie, even if that does make me a little sick.
To me the scene where he leaves the phone message makes the entire movie. "I just had to kill alot of people!"
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