I think my mask of sanity is about to slip.

Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller
Role: Jean
Director: Mary Harron
Co-Stars: Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Reese Witherspoon, Samantha Mathis, Jared Leto, Willem Dafoe, Bill Sage
Release Date: U.S., April 14 2000 (theatrical)
MPAA Motion Picture Rating: R

• Overview
• Memorable Jean Quotations
• American Psycho Movie Trivia
• Critical Reception
• American Psycho Online

More photos in our American Psycho gallery!

Set in New York City 1987, American Psycho follows the wealthy Wall Street investment banker Patrick Bateman (Bale). Handsome, successful and charming by day, few know of his murderous nightly activities, and those who do don’t get to live to tell about it. Driven by his perfectionism, compulsive materialism and jealousy, Bateman’s voracious kill fantasies get ever grislier features until he is at last unable to conceal them.

Chloë Sevigny portrays Jean, Bateman’s mousy secretary who, unaware of his sadism and psychopathic tendencies, falls in love with him. At the same time and unbeknownst to her, Jean is the only person in Bateman’s life he seems disinclined to kill.

“Then maybe we shouldn’t go out to dinner. I wouldn’t want you to lose your willpower. “

“Make someone happy. Have you ever wanted to?”

“Who’s Ted Bundy?”

• American Psycho is based on the controversial book by Bret Easton Ellis.

• Feminist activist and author Gloria Steinem was among those who opposed the publication of Ellis’ book, because of its portrayal of violence towards women. Steinem is also the stepmother of Christian Bale, who portrays Bateman in the film.

• Original casting for the film included Leonardo DiCaprio as Patrick Bateman, James Woods as Donald Kimball and Cameron Diaz as Evelyn Williams. Edward Norton was also offered the part of Bateman but turned it down, while Oliver Stone was previously set to direct.

• The movie appearing on Bateman’s TV while he’s working out is The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).

• Two scenes in the film feature unexpected improvisation by Christian Bale. In one scene, when Bateman is jumping rope, Bale suddenly starts to skip and cross his jump rope like a schoolgirl. In another scene, Bale surprised director Mary Harron by suddenly starting to dance when he as Bateman was preparing to kill Paul Allen. According to Harron’s DVD commentary, she collapsed with laughter.

• According to the DVD commentary by Mary Harron, the film is set in 1987.

• Chloë Sevigny and co-star Willem Dafoe also appear in Manderlay (2005) and My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009).

American Psycho premiered in the U.S. in April 2000, with worldwide theatrical releases throughout the summer and fall 2000. Critical reviews on the film have been mixed and range from extreme to extreme, but generally the response has been positive, owing to an exceptional and hairraisingly convincing performance by Christian Bale.

• Rating > Internet Movie Database: 7.5/10 (105,500 user votes counted)
• Rating > MetaCritic: 64/100 metascore, “Generally favorable reviews” (professional)
• Rating > Rotten Tomatoes: 66% positive reviews, “Fresh” (professional)

Extracts from professional movie reviews:

“Without leaving you unsatisfied, American Psycho asks more questions than it answers. Is Patrick Bateman really a homicidal killer, happily hacking, sawing and drilling his nights away? When he confesses to his equally empty social clique, they either don’t hear him, or they laugh it off — that Patrick, such a joker! Is it all just a satirical social parable, telling us that as long as you’re rich, tan and have killer abs, it doesn’t matter what you do? Are the murders all in Patrick’s lithium-laden head? Or are they fantasies to allay the feelings of inferiority and the frustrations he suffers? Whether he did it or not, there is no doubt that Patrick Bateman is insane, and Bale’s portrayal of him as he unravels is stellar.”
- Staci Layne Wilson, Horror.com

“Just as our laughter subsides into genuine fear, Harron switches gears yet again. Bateman‘s lust for blood accelerates in direct proportion to his frantic consumption of designer goods. As he falls slowly, surely apart, the movie takes a turn for the surreal, raising doubts about whether his foul misdeeds actually took place, or were the products of a sick imagination. Harron clearly relishes the ambiguity — American Psycho can be read either as the story of the impotent, raving fantasy life of an ineffectual man, or as a monster movie, a fable of power run amok at the end of a century notable for the abuse of power. In the end, the movie, like the novel, leans toward the latter. As Bateman, a man of his time, slouches in a bar with the usual suspects, a television flickers with images of Reagan genially my-fellow-Americaning the crowd at George Bush’s inauguration. ‘He looks so normal, so out of it,’ a young buck idly remarks. ‘So… undangerous’”
- Elle Taylor, L.A. Weekly

“Christian Bale affects a hilariously smarmy American drawl that’s part Casey Kasem, part Rod Serling. Having the time of his life every second of the way, Bale grabs onto this largely hollow role and pumps it with all the diabolical charisma it can hold. Nature has also gifted Bale with an amusing little V-shaped crease that bisects his brow whenever someone pops Patrick’s bubble of superiority. When a colleague dares to have a more elegant business card than Patrick’s, out comes the V-crease; the axe soon follows. Harron has recast American Psycho as a comedy about the fragility of masculinity, and Bale cheerfully plays the sap for her.”
- Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic

Personal Thoughts

Sandra: The first time I saw American Psycho I was much too young, and I actually remember strongly resenting the film because of what I considered gratuitous violence and overbearing gore (it’s a horror film pet peeve of mine from years back). But as I’ve become older I’ve slowly grown to like the film (if not love it), though not so much because I accept the violence (I don’t) than because of the terrific writing; the darkly comedic dialogue and the various references and allusions in the script are just undeniably clever. At any rate, Christian Bale is so frighteningly good as Bateman his performance is worth a watch all by itself.

As the quiet but unexpectedly sympathetic Jean, Chloë Sevigny delivers another solid performance, even if this particular character isn’t one of my favorites. Although Jean does get a couple of great lines, this is ultimately Christian Bale’s film; most of the characters have been built around his Bateman and are unremarkable by comparison. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I just like to see Chloë in meatier roles.

Below are some American Psycho-related links that may be of interest to you.

• American Psycho official site
• American Psycho TFL-approved fanlisting
• American Psycho TFL-approved Jean character fanlisting
• American Psycho on IMDb.com
• American Psycho on RottenTomatoes.com
• American Psycho on Wikipedia.org

• Mary Harron on IMDb.com
• Mary Harron on Wikipedia.org

• Christian Bale on Christian Bale Fan
• Jared Leto on Jared Leto Fan
• Reese Witherspoon on Glamour Reese Witherspoon