American Psycho

Based on Bret Easton Ellis’ controversial novel, Mary Harron’s coal-black comedy American Psycho skewers the neoliberal values of competition, consumption, and conformity that defined the young urban professional class of the 1980s. Patrick Bateman is a Wall Street mergers-and-acquisitions banker whose immaculate façade conceals profound alienation and homicidal impulses. Between skincare routines, business cards, dinners at impossible-to-book restaurants, and passionate monologues about Huey Lewis and the News, Bateman descends into increasingly grotesque acts of violence unnoticed by his equally vain and self-absorbed peers.

Reframing Ellis’ notorious novel as a razor-sharp satire of white-collar sociopathy, Harron and co-writer Guinevere Turner expose the absurdity of toxic masculinity, corporate ambition, and consumer culture with biting wit. Christian Bale delivers the career-defining performance that launched him into the front ranks of Hollywood actors, leading an outstanding cast that includes Willem Dafoe, Chloë Sevigny, Reese Witherspoon, Jared Leto, and Samantha Mathis.

Don’t miss the new 4K restoration of I Shot Andy Warhol, also screening at the Roxie as part of our Two by Mary Harron spotlight.