American Psycho

Directed by Mary Harron, American Psycho details the exploits of a successful Wall Street banker (Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman) who leads a double life as a serial killer. Filmmaker Harron, armed with her and Guinevere Turner’s screenplay, delivers an erratically-paced yet mostly rewarding endeavor that benefits substantially from Bale’s engrossing, captivating turn as the magnetic central character, and there’s little doubt that the actor’s perpetually spellbinding work goes a long way towards smoothing over the narrative’s bumps and lulls – with Bale ultimately receiving plenty of top-tier support from an eclectic periphery cast that includes Reese Witherspoon, Jared Leto, Justin Theroux, and Willem Dafoe. There’s little doubt, too, that American Psycho‘s recurring emphasis on agreeably satiric elements plays a significant role in its mild success, although it’s clear, eventually, the picture’s engaging opening hour eventually gives way to a wishy-washy final third that peters out to a fairly distressing extent – with the end result a relatively solid adaptation that’s never quite as stirring or enthralling as Bale’s iconic performance.

**1/2 out of ****