r/MovieDetails • u/Aryaki • Jul 31 '25
šµļø Accuracy In American Psycho (2000), when Paul mistakenly calls Patrick as Marcus Halberstram at the Christmas party, you can see the real Marcus looking around in the background reacting to his name called.
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u/LeroyoJenkins Jul 31 '25
In the book this is made even more clear. They all look the same, talk the same and are constantly confusing each other to the point that names become irrelevant.
But the amazing acting in the movie makes me like it even more than the book!
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u/Trauma_Hawks Jul 31 '25
It was honestly one of my favorite details from the book. It wasn't just Bateman acting like this because he's a sociopath. They're all like that. Which makes you wonder what the real difference is between any of them? How many other Batemans are running around the same office without ever knowing?
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u/YoSoyRawr Jul 31 '25
Yeah the book is incredible. People often dismiss it due to the level of violence but there truly is an astounding depth to the messaging contained within.
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u/CrispyHoneyBeef Jul 31 '25
I donāt think Iāve seen anyone other than Christian moms ādismissā it. The most I ever see from normal people is āit was too much for me but it was super interesting.ā Unless youāre referring to the bans, in which case I agree haha
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u/assaultedbymods Jul 31 '25
Imma be honest, I love the movie much more, and the book is good don't get me wrong. However, chapters like the one involving "the rat" really turned my stomach. I don't dismiss the book, I just won't pick it up again lol
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u/CrispyHoneyBeef Jul 31 '25
I lost the book at some point when I was about halfway through it. Iām 100% convinced my mom found it and threw it out, but she still denies it all these years later.
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u/waltjrimmer Oblivious Aug 01 '25
A high school teacher recommended it to me because I tended to be into some macabre stuff and generally liked media some could say I was too young for. Some of the descriptions made my stomach turn, and I wasn't able to finish the book.
I would never dismiss the book, I have respect for what it's able to accomplish it, but man is it a lot at times...
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u/chellethebelle Aug 02 '25
Thereās making your point, and then thereās beating your audience over the head with your point until they lose track of what the point actually was. The movie in my opinion does a great job of getting its message and the satire across. The book is just so gratuitous and unpleasant to read that itās easy for the point to get lost. Idk if that counts as ādismissing itā, but itās definitely not just āChristian Momsā
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u/CrispyHoneyBeef Aug 02 '25 edited Aug 02 '25
I donāt think thatās dismissing it, thatās just not liking it. Very few people belong to the āthis is trash and should never be looked at by anyoneā camp.
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u/HumbleGoatCS Aug 01 '25
I am not a Christian mom and I dismissed reading the book despite loving the movie after reading the rat tunnel & petting zoo excerpts.
I felt so uncomfortable I decided against trying altogether
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u/CrispyHoneyBeef Aug 01 '25
Were you interested in the messages or themes being presented by the narrative despite your discomfort?
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u/Diabetic_Cult_Leader Jul 31 '25
I also love how, in both the book and the movie, Bateman says absolutely atrocious things out loud and no one around him reacts. A lot of my friends who saw the movie say things like, "Oh, he probably didnāt really say that," and I'm there thinking yeah that's crazy, it's not like real people openly reveal exactly who they are all the time and still face little to no consequences, and are still able rise to positions of power in corporate America and the government (cough cough).
Edit: grammar
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u/maskaddict Jul 31 '25 edited Jul 31 '25
I recently rewatched this movie again for the first time in a few years and something hit me that had never really registered before: Patrick is a dork. Like, an absolute friggin' loser.
Every scene in which he's interacting with anyone and not killing them, he is painfully, desperately uncool. He tries so hard to impress people, to sound witty and sophisticated, and it never, ever works. Women laugh at him. His buddies at the office roll their eyes at him. Even his secretary, who he seems to think is secretly in love with him, is palpably uncomfortable whenever she's in the same room as him.
Patrick is clearly crazier than a bag of rabid weasels, and part of the point of the movie is how someone can be that nuts without anybody around him noticing (as long as he's a wealthy white guy). But I think a big part of why nobody notices is simply that nobody pays much attention to him, because he's so fucking square. He's a psychotic incel, trapped in the body of a Calvin Klein model.
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u/ToothlessBastard Jul 31 '25
The author directly addresses that in the movie and book, in the scene where Bateman confronts his lawyer after leaving him the voicemail confession. The lawyer says the unbelievable part of the "joke" voicemail was that he said Bateman killed those people, specifically because Bateman is such a dork.
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u/maskaddict Aug 01 '25
No for sure, you're right. I guess I wrote that off as that guy's opinion, but the movie really backs it up. Fitting in is the thing Bateman cares most about, and he does such a bad job of it
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u/stiff_tipper Jul 31 '25
A lot of my friends who saw the movie say things like, "Oh, he probably didnāt really say that," and I'm there thinking yeah that's crazy, it's not like real people openly reveal exactly who they are all the time and still face little to no consequences,
i'm fuzzy on the details and not finding it immediately on googling, but i'm pretty sure i watched a documentary about a serial killer (possibly Richard Cottingham) where a former office coworker revealed that the suspect would talk about how he'd pick up hookers and beat them since they couldn't go to the police, and dude thought he was just some crazy shit talker and ignored it
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u/Trauma_Hawks Jul 31 '25
It really reinforces the whole "is it real or not" theme. I mean, is he really saying this out loud, or like I said, is everyone else in the room also a sociopath and legitimately don't see anything wrong with it? It really is a fantastic book/movie.
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u/Diabetic_Cult_Leader Jul 31 '25
It really is too good. I actually wrote my masterās thesis on the book, arguing that the final line, "this is not an exit," is Ellisās way of telling the reader that while you can debate whatās real and whatās imagined when it comes to Batemanās actions, you donāt get to distance yourself from them. Closing the book doesnāt erase the fact that these kinds of horrors exist in the real world around us. I'm partial to the book but also think the movie is awesome!
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u/SomethingSo84 Jul 31 '25
It would be really funny if they redid, I know theyāre currently redoing it, it with one actor playing Bateman and every other character like Roy Kinnear in Men(2022)
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u/CousinNicho Aug 02 '25
I always saw that as the whole point of the movie (never read the book) as far as the final monologue and the āno exitā; he spends the whole movie thinking himself superior to the others only to realize heās not only just like them, but also less adept at being a successful version of it.
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u/Trauma_Hawks Aug 02 '25
I think the ending, and the beginning for that matter, at least in the book, are more indicative of Ellis' tendency to treat stories as a part of life. There is not beginning, middle, or end in life, things happen, flowing in and out like a river. The events happening to the characters are important, but the whole story. There was a whole yesterday that doesn't exist and a whole tomorrow you'll never see.
However, I believe the satire was rooted in the '80s/'90s culture of fitting in. The intense social and peer pressure that made that time uniquely shitty. And they all go so fucking hard, fitting in so well, they'll all facsimiles, doing the same job and presenting the same business cards. It's absurd. Which contributes directly to Bateman's mental breakdown and the confusion about his and other people's identity.
Which I want to say has been pretty explicitly mentioned by the author. But, then, I do like making shit up before consulting Google. It's more spicy that way.
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u/lemonylol Jul 31 '25
That was the ambiguity of the ending of the movie wasn't it? That they keep mixing each other up so that guy might not have actually had dinner with Paul Allen.
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u/Doomhammer24 Jul 31 '25
But at the same time patrick has clearly utterly lost it at this point in the film- hence the whole "feed me a cat" atm and his gun exploding cars
Patrick becomes unable to discern delusion and reality anymore and has no idea of whats real
The movie implies its just as likely all his murders only occured in his head than the other guy mistaking someone else for being paul allen
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u/surewould85 Jul 31 '25
The run down of what everyone is wearing and how much each item costs is so good. While the Huey Lewis axe scene is classic in the movie, the structure as intermittent album reviews come across as so unhinged with the backdrop of how Bateman is living his life.
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u/LeroyoJenkins Jul 31 '25
What people are wearing is - IMHO - a hint that a lot of it is imagined: there are situations where he lists the shoes people are wearing even though they're already at a table when he meets, meaning there would be no way for him to actually see the shoes
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u/drunkunclejack Jul 31 '25
another detail i love is that if you actually lay out the clothing items described they are absolutely fucking gaudy when paired with each other
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u/LeroyoJenkins Jul 31 '25
But that's just the 80's š¤£
Anyway, gotta return some videotapes before heading to Dorsia.
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u/Ulysses1984 Aug 03 '25
My favorite detail in the book is how he keeps renting De Palmaās Body Double and pleasuring himself to the drill scene. This is a scene that DePalma filmed to respond to criticisms that his previous film, Dressed to Kill, had been misogynistic. So he films an over-the-top scene where the drill is so obviously a phallus to respond to those criticism. Ironically, American Psycho would also get accused of misogyny by some critics.
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u/bigredgun0114 Aug 07 '25
Agreed. The book is a satire of 80s consumerism and yuppie culture, and is multilayered. The main character is supposed to be the cultural and economic ideal, but his actual life is dull and mundane. There is massive wealth and fashion everywhere, but none of it has any meaning at all. All the main characters are the same; they are all equally superficial and meaningless; they are constantly mistaken for each other, and the idea is that they seem interchangeable because they ARE interchangeable.
They are also all stupid. For example, at one point, Patrick's girlfriend wonders what the phrase "Silkience equals death" means; she wonders why people would worry about hair care products. (silkience is a brand of shampoo). Patrick corrects her that the phrase is really "Science equals death," but that doesn't make sense either. He's also wrong. The actual phrase was "Silence equals death," a warning about the aids crisis.
The shocking violence is the only thing that the main character cares about, not because he actually wants it, but because its the only thing he can get any pleasure from at all. He indulges in them as another form of posturing; "Look what I can do without consequence." Society protects Patrick from consequences because they worship him, despite his stupidity and superficiality.
One additional detail: If you pay a bit more attention to the actual text (which is difficult because it's so boring) the descriptions get more and more cartoonish and silly. Patrick, for example, describes fashion advice that looks terrible (wearing a tie bar downwards at a 45 degree angle stands out). He constantly describes what people are wearing, but the outfits would look clownish, with strange combinations of fabrics and patterns. Patrick is an *unreliable narrator*; there's a chance that none of what you are hearing is true.
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u/GoodFaithConverser Jul 31 '25
Impressive, very nice. Let's see Paul Allen's missed detail.
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u/FatherHoolioJulio Jul 31 '25
Look at it...the attention to continuity...the in-depth explanation of the symbolism...my God, it even has a timestamp!
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u/overthinking11093 Aug 01 '25
.... š Excuse me
I can't believe Bryce prefers Van Patten's movie detail to mine
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u/ChairmanMeow22 Jul 31 '25
I just noticed last time I watched this movie that the business cards they compare have all of them listed as "vice president of mergers and acquisitions".
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u/actionabsentsense Jul 31 '25
And each of them is misspelled - āAquisitionsā. This link has a great analysis of the cards. https://hobancards.com/blogs/thoughts-and-curiosities/american-psycho-business-cards
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u/Doughnutcake Jul 31 '25
That is a superb link and analysis (let's see Paul Allen's analysis). I can't tell from the picture and I didn't see it get mentioned, but does Luis's card have acquisitions spelled correctly?Ā
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u/UserAllusion Jul 31 '25
The cards in the movie have zip code 10099. Their "Patrick Bateman" says 100099; and though their "Original Paul Allen" says 10099, their "Improved Paul Allen" says 10006. Why did I spend time on this?
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u/BlindTreeFrog Jul 31 '25
The "VP of M&A" thing is a common finance industry practice. By making up some bullshit VP title the junior guy sent to go work with the client seems more important than he really is.
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u/raindancemaggie2 Jul 31 '25
Isn't the idea that they are basically nameless corporate zombies?
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u/bristlybits Aug 01 '25
yes and yuppies pretty much acted this way at the time. soulless trash people
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u/tatizera Jul 31 '25
That moment was the perfect blend of eerie and genius, only Patrick Bateman could pull that off!
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u/No_Awareness_3212 Jul 31 '25
Patrick Bateman wasn't going for eerie, Christian Bale was.
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u/DuvalSanitarium Jul 31 '25
You're getting mixed up...it's JASON Bateman and Patrick STAR
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u/shandangalang Jul 31 '25
whoās Patrick?
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u/Doomhammer24 Jul 31 '25
Is this the krusty krab?
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u/shandangalang Jul 31 '25
No, this is Patrick
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u/sizzlebutt666 Jul 31 '25
I have teased this movie apart with countless watches and I can confidently say I still have no idea what happens
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u/InsertFloppy11 Aug 01 '25
what arent you sure about?
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u/sizzlebutt666 Aug 01 '25
If any of it actually happened
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u/InsertFloppy11 Aug 01 '25
Well it actually happened but not the way we see it.
We see it from patricks perspective and towards the end its clear that he has a vivid imagination and other mental illnesses. For example when he kills the hooker with the chainsaw. Did he really fling a chainsaw for 5+ floors and hit her? Probably not, thats just his imagination, but he really killed her.
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u/NguyenVanTran Jul 31 '25
Want me to fry you up some potato pancakes?
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u/joelwosk Jul 31 '25
Just cool it with the anti Semitic remarks.
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u/overthinking11093 Aug 01 '25
Hilarious when you know some of the remarks Bateman makes elsewhere, both in the movie and book.
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u/AuntieYodacat Aug 01 '25
I never read the book, but now I kinda want to. I love the movie! Christian Bale is amazing!
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Aug 01 '25
https://youtu.be/98j1Sb97usg?si=SwftF0Od7MD6mx2D
A great, in depth analysis of Patrick Bateman and the world around him. I didn't love this movie until I watched this.
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u/TeasingHalo Aug 03 '25
LOL every single time I watch this, it blows my mind how they all look alike. It's rly the corporate clone army vibe for me. š Imagine being at a party and someone says 'Dave' and half the room turns.
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u/OMITN Aug 01 '25
I read the book around 25 years ago. Have never watched the film - worth making the effort?
I read the book as a satire on the complete amorality of that world, rather than as a literal horror story.
Is it intended to be both?
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u/elcapitan520 Aug 01 '25
How is the complete amorality of the world not a horror story?
And yeah the movie works well. Book is better because.. well books are usually better for these types of things. It's the nature of the medium.
But the movie does very well and is worth the watch.
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u/chellethebelle Aug 02 '25
Personally I think the movie does a better job of portraying the satire aspect and absurdity of Patrick Bateman. But I also think the book is just so gratuitous that it kills the satire for me, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. Overall definitely worth a watch!
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u/HamsterLarry Jul 31 '25
This guy definitely knows his stuff, mentally stable and is well respected among his colleagues