CheekyShepherd
05-27-2003, 09:34 AM
American Psycho was always considered an impossible book to adapt to screen, and I always agreed.
****SPOILERS FOR BOTH BOOK & FILM****
The true star of the film is Christian Bale, who plays Pat Bateman with eccentric exuberance. The adaptation however from Bret Easton Ellis' novel to Mary Harron's script is less than perfect. The film misses out far too many hilarious scenes from the book, changes far too many characters and re-edits the sequence of events far too heavily. All the deaths are watered down to piss in order to ensure a cinematic release, this I can understand however. In the book, Bateman ties a prostitute up, covers her private regions with cheese and lets a rabid rat free to eat as it wishes. NICE!!! Therefore, I do understand the toning down of the violence, yet I cannot condone it. True horror only exists in the eye of your imagination, IT CAN NEVER BE SUCCESSFULLY ADAPTED TO SCREEN (After a hundred years, Hollywood still haven't realised this).
Reese Witherspoon and Chloe Sevigny are grossly miscast and Jared Leto just isn't given anything to do except laugh like a jackass. The cinematography and set design works, emanating the yuppie eighties lifestyle, but the film just doesn't work on the same levels as the book, the film even shoe-horns in a totally separate subplot for those who just can't figure out what the hell it's about.
Only two scenes from this movie stand out in my memory - Patrick Bateman's voiceover introduction of himself, explaining the perfect way to shave, how to moisturise your skin, etc.... And a hilarious competition over business cards, which is the only scene to translate better from book to film.
An extremely disappointing film from a controversially superb novel.
****SPOILERS FOR BOTH BOOK & FILM****
The true star of the film is Christian Bale, who plays Pat Bateman with eccentric exuberance. The adaptation however from Bret Easton Ellis' novel to Mary Harron's script is less than perfect. The film misses out far too many hilarious scenes from the book, changes far too many characters and re-edits the sequence of events far too heavily. All the deaths are watered down to piss in order to ensure a cinematic release, this I can understand however. In the book, Bateman ties a prostitute up, covers her private regions with cheese and lets a rabid rat free to eat as it wishes. NICE!!! Therefore, I do understand the toning down of the violence, yet I cannot condone it. True horror only exists in the eye of your imagination, IT CAN NEVER BE SUCCESSFULLY ADAPTED TO SCREEN (After a hundred years, Hollywood still haven't realised this).
Reese Witherspoon and Chloe Sevigny are grossly miscast and Jared Leto just isn't given anything to do except laugh like a jackass. The cinematography and set design works, emanating the yuppie eighties lifestyle, but the film just doesn't work on the same levels as the book, the film even shoe-horns in a totally separate subplot for those who just can't figure out what the hell it's about.
Only two scenes from this movie stand out in my memory - Patrick Bateman's voiceover introduction of himself, explaining the perfect way to shave, how to moisturise your skin, etc.... And a hilarious competition over business cards, which is the only scene to translate better from book to film.
An extremely disappointing film from a controversially superb novel.