History Film / AmericanPsycho

* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Patrick has an extreme hatred for homosexual males (whom he derides as "faggots") but is deeply aroused by lesbian sex. If he's not going to lengths to pay prostitutes and/or drug women just to watch them get it on, he's often seeking it out in pornographic videos.

** Patrick also claims to Allen that the song "Hip to be Square" is about "the pleasures of conformity and the importance of trends." Huey Lewis actually wrote the song to be a satire of self-absorbed trend chasers, like Bateman, while expressing the value of individuality.

** Patrick says Music/HueyLewisAndTheNews' ''Fore!'' was released in '87, although in reality, it came out in 1986. He also says that Huey Lewis has a more "biting, satiric tone" than Music/ElvisCostello; to music lovers, this is like saying that Music/MCHammer had grittier, more violent lyrics than Music/{{Nas}}.

** Bateman says Music/WhitneyHouston's debut album had four number one singles on it when it only had three. He also refers to her as a "jazz singer."

** Patrick says Music/HueyLewisAndTheNews' ''Fore!'' was released in '87, although in reality, it came out in 1986.

** Bateman says Music/WhitneyHouston's debut album had four number one singles on it when it only had three.

Like the book, the film follows Patrick Bateman (Bale), a handsome, charming, and wealthy investment banker based in New York City [[TheEighties in 1987]]. Unbeknownst to his circle of fancy associates, including his girlfriend Evelyn (Creator/ReeseWitherspoon), Bateman is also a psychotic SerialKiller.

Like the book, the film follows Patrick Bateman (Bale), a handsome, charming, and wealthy investment banker based in [[TheEighties 1980s]] New York City (specifically 1987). Unbeknownst to his circle of fancy associates, including his girlfriend Evelyn (Creator/ReeseWitherspoon), Bateman is also a psychotic SerialKiller.

* TheRichHaveWhiteStuff: Patrick's apartment, while luxurious, is also almost all white (except for the bathtub). The whiteness gives it an alienating quality.

* OneHourWorkWeek: Patrick's job is very high-paying, with a cushy office, but he doesn't seem to ''do'' any actual work there and [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob has a lot of free time on his hands]]. He frequently arrives late to his office, cuts out early, or does ''both'', while he prioritizes shopping errands, lunch meetings, or feeding his more personal obsessions back at his apartment. Whenever Patrick actually ''is'' at his office, his time is still spent watching TV, listening to music on his walkman, doing crossword puzzles, and doing any number of other unrelated activities. Famously, when Patrick and all his associates attend a business meeting, the entire time is spent showing off their business cards, and later, when Patrick attempts to ''look'' busy when visited by Detective Kimball, all Patrick can think to do is pick up his phone receiver and ramble on about men's fashion and proper tipping etiquette, rather than pretend to actually be in the middle of business. When his secretary looks through his day planner, it's almost empty save for lunch dates and lurid doodles. It's mentioned that [[{{Nepotism}} it's his dad's company]]. In his review of the film, Creator/RogerEbert mused that Patrick's spree might have been averted if he'd been put to work hitting nails with a hammer, which is about the only task he's qualified for.

* LighterAndSofter: The film is much, ''much'' tamer than the book, featuring only [[GoryDiscretionShot Gory Discretion Shots]] instead of the chapter-long, extreme, graphic descriptions of what Bateman does to his victims.

*** He also claims to Allen that the song ''Hip to be Square'' is about the pleasure of conformity. Huey Lewis wrote the song to be a satire of self absorbed trend chasers like Bateman, while expressing the value of individuality.

*** He also claims to Allen that the song ''Hip to be Square'' is about the pleasure of conformity. Hewey Lewis wrote the song to be a satire of self absorbed trend chasers like Bateman, while expressing the value of individuality.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: Peanut butter soup is actually a real thing (nkatenkwan, the national dish of Ghana), although it's usually made with chicken and yam, rather than duck and squash.

* AnAxeToGrind: Patrick uses an axe to kill Paul Allen.

* BrokenAce: Patrick outwardly appears wealthy, handsome, and successful, but BeneathTheMask he's a soulless, deeply disturbed man with an empty life. Both the book and movie mention that something inside him snapped by the time he got into college.

* BondOneLiner: "Try getting a reservation at Dorsia now, you fucking stupid bastard! You, fucking bastard!"

* BrokenAce: Patrick outwardly appears wealthy, handsome, and successful, but BeneathTheMask he's a soulless, deeply disturbed man with an empty life.

* CantGetInTroubleForNuthin: No one suspects Patrick of anything, even after he confesses everything.

** Patrick Bateman, a soulless corporatist who butchers people for both fun and to vent his own superiority complex. [[spoiler:Even if he isn't actually killing anybody, he's fantasizing about it.]]

* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: Patrick stomps a dog to death that belonged to a homeless man he previously stabbed. In the book, he mentions trying to kill the seals at a zoo, simply because he hates that the animals bring joy to others.

* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: Patrick stomps a dog to death that belonged to a homeless man he previously stabbed.

* FreezeFrameBonus: Watch carefully during the business card scene and you'll notice that 1) Bateman's card lacks a space between the "&" and second "Pierce" that's present on the others, and 2) all four cards misspell the word "acquisitions" as "aquisitions". Luis Carruther's card (shown later in the film) has the same error.

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* TortureCellar: Properly, Torture Apartment. He uses Paul Owen's place for this after killing him.

* PyrrhicVillainy: By the end of the story, it's clear that [[spoiler:all of Patrick's evil and depravity have afforded him nothing. He's still as lonely and miserable and empty as he was at the beginning, and no one gives a shit about him.]]

* EvidenceDungeon: Patrick Bateman uses both his apartment and appropriates Paul Allen's apartment[[spoiler: after killing him]] to commit most of his murders. In his apartment, there is a head in the fridge and numerous implements of murder and torture. In Paul Allen's apartment, there are two bodies hanging on hooks in a closet, another on the bathroom floor and [[RoomFullOfCrazy a room with 'Die Yuppie Scum' scrawled on the walls.]] [[SubvertedTrope Subverted as ]][[spoiler: the ending implies that Bateman may be having psychotic delusions about his murders. As he is an [[UnreliableNarrator incredibly unreliable narrator]], it calls into question everything we've seen and whether the 'evidence' was really there.]]

* NoodleImplements: Bateman's drawer full of "sex toys" which he uses on the prostitutes. This is one of those times when you really ''don't'' want to picture how they're used. There's a hole puncher, for one. What did he ''do'' with that? The fact that Christie says she had to go to the emergency room and might need surgery gives you some clue.

* ThePeepingTom: {{Implied|Trope}}. Gathering from Patrick's deviant behaviors and morbid pastimes, it would be highly doubtful that he would be using the telescope seen inside his apartment for stargazing. Its presence may also be a subtle nod to the movie ''Film/BodyDouble'', referenced several times in the novel, where the main character takes interest in a neighbor whom he regularly watches through a telescope.