AMERICAN PSYCHO review

Hey folks, Harry here and the here is back in my home town of Austin. As many of you have been aware, I have only just returned from the FLOATING FILM FESTIVAL, which took me from Aruba all the way through the Panama Canal and finally winding up in Costa Rica. Quite a trip, I must say. I have quite a few stories to tell about this trip, and you'll be reading them as I get them formatted and the pictures all set and pretty, but for now... I'm going to write up my look at AMERICAN PSYCHO.

First off, upon the FLOATING FILM FESTIVAL, I found this to be the most unlikely of films to appear. You see... this festival is mainly attended by the silver generations, and it was just my pre-opinion that those with hair the color of the screens in front of them... might... just might be offended by a serial killer NC-17 murder-fest called AMERICAN PSYCHO. Meanwhile, I on the otherhand was very much looking forward to the film. Strange how reality alters all those pre-perceptions.

The screening took place quite early in the A.M, the night after the annual Floating Film Fest Sing-A-Long thingee. I had fully intended to go check this event out the night before, but I felt the need to get some much needed writing out of the way, and so... I decided to just hold off and take care of business. So I woke up early, took the elevator down two decks, and met with my other 'Floaters' (the name of those aboard the FLOATING FILM FESTIVAL) and took my seat on the aisle, about 3 rows from the front in the center.

The screen wasn't the biggest in the world, but the audience was an eager one. Ebert had already seen the film, and was basically here to "see how long till the first audience member left." Hmmmm... I guess that speaks of his opinion of the film.

Jim Emerson of Reel.Com gave an introduction to the film, though he had not yet seen the movie. He detailed the history of the film as he had heard it... reflected what his understanding of the original novel was... and then the film started.

The film is a cheesy mid-eighties slasher film that attempts to try to con the audience into believing that it is a lot more than that. Personally, I feel the movie is garbage. Oh, it has some clever stuff.... but... I really can't stand this film. And to get into it... I'm going to have to discuss SPOILERS, so if you want to leave the review at this point... Just take on off... No hard feelings, wait.. see the movie for yourself... then come listen to my wild rantings..

Alright... here we go... I hate the movie for the following reasons...

1. First there is the inane dialogue about eighties music trivia while murdering people. This is that same drivil that folks trying to be Quentin Tarantino spew out to make themselves seem to be cool. And ya know... any one of the little monologues about... oh... say Whitney Houston or Phil Collins, might've been cool... But to continually bombard us with these obscenities... one after another... just became a bit to self-indulgent for my tastes.

2. Christian Bale, who I once loved when he was a child, drove me INSANE during this film. Have you ever seen SIX STRING SAMURAI? Well, I love that film, save for one scene and character that drove me batty... It's the cannibalistic 50's family with a Dave Letterman-esque father figure that screams in a joyful xanex blitz all of his dialogue. I loathe this character... This is exactly Christian Bale's delivery throughout the film... Like fingernails upon a chalkboard...

3. The lack of commitment by the filmmaker. You see... In the great slasher films... people really die. Not in imaginations...not maybe could be possibly sorts of manners... But dead in a very real way. Here in this film... They decide to take the... DID IT REALLY HAPPEN wink wink exit at the end. They never show a murder... they all take place off camera. The gore is lame and neither funny in a grand guignol funny sort of way... or in the teeth grinding realism of say the shark bites in THE BEACH. Instead... It's just... off camera. At the end of the film... I felt as though hours of my life had just been wasted.

4. NC-17. God, I hate that rating. First there is not a reasonable reason on the surface on the planet on why this film should not be rated R. The violence nor the sex even begin to approach anything vaguely approaching NC-17. Though I do know exactly why it is rated such. You see... there is a scene in the film where Christian Bale is banging a gal from behind while that girl is seemingly banging the girl in front of her. Now mind you... There is no genitalia shown. No penetration. No close ups... no Jizz shots. But you see, the Mpaa gets confused by Doggy Style, and tend to automatically rate it as being ANAL SEX thereby making it NC-17. Now, My belief is that this film should simply be released as being the piece of crap that it is. Psycho's imitate cool things they see... this film is filled with STUPIDITY.

I was bitterly disappointed by the film. I love gore films, ultraviolence and satires. This film fails all the way across the board for me. However, I must admit that it has moments... and to some... they really really enjoyed it. And had you told me in advance that I would be upon a cruise ship arguing and debating with an audience of silver haired film goers that were supporting AMERICAN PSYCHO, while I would be bashing it... I never would have believed it. But that is exactly the case. The film is a waste of resources and talent.