Do you want to see ‘American Psycho’?

American Psycho (2000)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 6.2/10
Reviews Counted: 141
Fresh: 94 | Rotten: 47

If it falls short of the deadly satire of Bret Easton Ellis's novel, American Psycho still finds its own blend of horror and humor, thanks in part to a fittingly creepy performance by Christian Bale.

Average Rating: 5.8/10
Critic Reviews: 35
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 15

If it falls short of the deadly satire of Bret Easton Ellis's novel, American Psycho still finds its own blend of horror and humor, thanks in part to a fittingly creepy performance by Christian Bale.

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Movie Info

Bret Easton Ellis's dark and violent satire of America in the 1980s is brought to the screen in this unsettling drama with blackly comic overtones. Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), the son of a wealthy Wall Street financier, is pursuing his own lucrative career with his father's firm. Bateman is the prototypical yuppie, obsessed with success, fashion, and style. He is also a serial killer who murders, rapes, and mutilates both strangers and acquaintances without provocation or reason. Donald

R, 1 hr. 37 min.

Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Comedy

Directed By: Mary Harron

Written By: Mary Harron, Guinevere Turner

In Theaters: Apr 14, 2000 Wide

On DVD: Sep 5, 2000

Lions Gate Films

American Psycho Trailer & Photos

Cast

Christian Bale
Patrick Bateman
Willem Dafoe
Donald Kimball
Jared Leto
Paul Allen
Reese Witherspoon
Evelyn Williams
Samantha Mathis
Courtney Rawlinson
Chlo� Sevigny
Jean
Justin Theroux
Timothy Bryce
Josh Lucas
Craig McDermott
Guinevere Turner
Elizabeth
Matt Ross
Luis Carruthers
Bill Sage
David Van Patten
Cara Seymour
Christie
Somaya Reece

Critic Reviews for American Psycho

All Critics (141) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (96) | Rotten (50) | DVD (27)

The slick satire cleverly equates materialism, narcissism, misogyny, and classism with homicide, but you may laugh so loud at the protagonist that you won't be able to hear yourself laughing with him.

March 28, 2011 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

Lisa Alspector

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

It's hard to summon up enthusiasm for a performance so rooted in bloody banality. I mean, as Patrick, Bale's most emotionally pressing dilemma is: Chainsaw or butcher knife?

March 28, 2011 Full Review Source: Washington Post

| Comments (7)

Desson Thomson

Washington Post

Top Critic

American Psycho is nearly perfect for what it is, but before we go on, we should ask what that actually amounts to. Can something with so rigid a thesis be a real work of art?

March 28, 2011 Full Review Source: Slate

| Comment

David Edelstein

Slate

Top Critic

It needs to be seen and appreciated, like a serpent in a glass cage.

March 28, 2011 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine

| Comment

Richard Corliss

TIME Magazine

Top Critic

Harron's Psycho reps an impressive reclaiming of dubious material.

May 30, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Dennis Harvey

Variety

Top Critic

Conceptually, this savage cartoon ends up as trapped in surfaces as its shallow antihero: it's all dressed up with nowhere to go.

March 31, 2008 Full Review Source: Newsweek

| Comment

David Ansen

Newsweek

Top Critic

A brave adaptation of a bracing book.

March 28, 2011 Full Review Source: Film4

| Comment

Film4

The movie is elegantly shot, but based on what's on screen, it's hard to tell what motivated Mary Harron to direct this emotionally vapid feature

November 20, 2010 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

| Comment

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

Mary Harron asks what's more unnerving - exaggerated, imagined violence or vacuous realities some wish to be real, psychosis as much in the construct as the character. Thus, "Psycho's" savagery goes beyond a simple screed against 1980s excess and greed.

September 25, 2010 Full Review Source: Suite101.com

| Comment

Nick Rogers

Suite101.com

much like the 80's era that it personifies

September 11, 2010 Full Review Source: Old School Reviews

| Comments (2)

John A. Nesbit

Old School Reviews Source: Old School Reviews

Harron' s incisive eye and Bale' s bravura performance carry the day.

August 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review

| Comment

Jim Lane

Sacramento News & Review

American Pyscho is one of those films that makes you laugh uncomfortably throughout and you just walk away feeling disgusted. The flick is definitely an underrated masterpiece.

August 2, 2008 Comments (8)

Kevin McCarthy

BDK Reviews

One can picture Kubrick handling this material with a similar elegant malevolence.

July 23, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com

| Comments (2)

Rob Gonsalves

eFilmCritic.com

The real shame about Psycho is that there are glimmers of the very smart satire that could've been.

July 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound

| Comment

Joe Lozito

Big Picture Big Sound

It's a highly entertaining movie with enough edgy humor to prickle our senses.

May 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid

| Comment

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

The film makes wonderfully unsettling entertainment; crucially -- and gloriously -- Bale nails Bateman with a sublimely dead-eyed and deadpan performance.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Time Out

Mary Harron and Christian Bale create an almost magical balance between the tragic and comic elements of this story.

June 24, 2005 Full Review Source: Horror.com

| Comment

Staci Layne Wilson

Horror.com Source: Horror.com

Production designer Gideon Ponte gives a terrific look to the film, with a hard, ultramodern design that lends sterility to Patrick's personal killing field.

April 9, 2005 Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews

| Comment

Robin Clifford

Reeling Reviews

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for American Psycho

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I rewatched this for the first time in a long time . . . and I have to say WOW. Christian Bale is just crazy good in this film.

May 4, 2008

John Manard

Super Reviewer

For me, the old adage "you haven't seen a film unless you've seen it twice" couldn't be more applicable when it comes to American Psycho. Upon my first viewing years ago, I didn't think much of it; seeing it last night on the big screen was a dramatically different experience. As a film critic said, this film is a

January 14, 2012

Jonathan Hutchings

Super Reviewer

American Psycho Quotes

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1. Patrick Bateman: I like to dissect girls. Did you know I'm utterly insane?
– Submitted by Jake W (7 days ago)
1. Patrick Bateman: I have to return some video tapes.
– Submitted by Megan O (27 days ago)
1. Patrick Bateman: Try getting a reservation at Dorsia now you f**king bastard! You, f**king bastard! !!
– Submitted by Ethan H (4 months ago)
1. Patrick Bateman: [Bateman narrating] I'm trying to listen to the new Robert Palmer tape, but Evelyn, my supposed fiancee, keeps buzzing in my ear.
– Submitted by Paul S (5 months ago)
1. Patrick Bateman: Sabrina, don't just stare at it. Eat it.
– Submitted by Cori J (5 months ago)

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Latest News for American Psycho

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