Patrick Batement tried his best to carve the perfect life. He was, of course, internally corrupt but he hid it exceptionally well. In 'American Psycho', a movie adaptation of the wonderfully twisted novel of the same name (by Bret Easton Ellis) we follow Batemen as he struggles to balance his charade of a life and his night time killing addiction.
Certainly the movie is a much milder version of the novel but there is more to this movie than it's famous cast (Reese Witherspoon for instance). Set in the 80s, special attention was made to the detail shots. Including his gorgeous American Gardens builing apartment in New York which could quite easily belong to any well to do person today.
The opening scene of American Psycho shows us Bateman's meticulous grooming procedure. He narrates a long list of products he uses and why. He is like a machine feeding the need for perfection. It is also jam packed with fantastic mens fashion. Bateman is a big fan of Valentino Couture, Ralph Lauren and Oliver People glasses. The whole cast is so beautifully put together and modern looking you would swear it was set in 2011 and not the end of the 80s.
Patrick Bateman was self-assured, quite successful for his young age and very good looking but added to this he was a hugely arrogant and egotistical "yuppie" who couldn't treat a person with respect. Bateman was obsessed with fitting in as illustrated in the business card scene which drove him over the edge and resulted in murdering Paul Allen.
So yes, he's a murderer but the movie contains so many glorious tidbits it's not hard to understand how this became a cult classic. If you haven't seen it yet, get on it. Christian Bale might be an horrible person in real life but you have to commend him on doing a good job playing one in this movie.
"There is an idea of Patrick Bateman. Some kind of abstraction,but there is no real me. Only an entity-- something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel my flesh gripping yours... and may be you can sense our life styles are probably comparable, I simply am not there."
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