History YMMV / AmericanPsycho

* OneSceneWonder: The realtor at the end of the film is strongly implied to also be, like Patrick, an American Psycho who removed evidence of Paul Allen's murder to still be able to sell the apartment, but [[AlwaysABiggerFish one that's actually in control her emotions and the situation around her and who is ruthless at succeeding in her job]] as opposed to the rather lazy Patrick who coasts off of his father's wealth and power while not actually doing anything at his job apart from listening to music and obsessing over his murders and equally violent fantasies.

** After Bateman confessed to his lawyer, Harold Carnes, that he killed Allen, the latter claims that's impossible because he had dinner with Paul earlier. Either he simply doesn't believe Patrick, he mistook Paul for someone else or he's covering up for Bateman.

%%** Creator/ChristianBale plays a wealthy shallow yuppy who never does any work, has a job at his father's company, lives a double life, and is often forced to hide his displeasure at his companions. They have more in common than it seems.

--> Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh my God, that tattoo even looks like a watermark!

** Creator/ChristianBale plays a wealthy shallow yuppy who never does any work, has a job at his father's company, lives a double life, and is often forced to hide his displeasure at his companions. They have more in common than it seems.

* FountainOfMemes: Bateman's LaughablyEvil antics have produced quite a lot of memes, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ruw9fsh3PNY&t=71s Hip To Be Square]]", [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcSHzdQuoRw Bateman Walking]] and "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yM7Xe3HrT8 Do you like Phil Collins?]]" being some of the best known examples.

** Are the people that surround Patrick really so blinkered, stupid and self-absorbed that they can't recognize he's a monster? Or is this how a deluded sociopath who believes himself untouchable would view the world: as superficially different but ultimately identical zombies, that can be placated, cajoled, victimized and slaughtered at will? The ending of the musical leans toward Patrick being a solipsist a little more, but the book and film keep it, as with many aspects of his perception, ambiguous.

** At one point, Patrick coldly tells Jean [[BreakTheCutie "You can always be thinner, look better."]] Four years later, Christian Bale would (in)famously lose a staggering ''63 pounds'' for his role in ''Film/TheMachinist'' and then lose 30 pounds several years later for ''Film/TheFighter''.

** He didn't say that.[[labelnote:Explanation]] In a 4chan post asking for favorite movie lines, someone uploaded an image of Paul Allen right before Patrick murders him, captioned with the intentional [[BeamMeUpScotty misquote]] "Patrick, it's you!! You're the American Psycho?!!" Another user immediately called this out as fake, leading to a trove of other users responding by pretending that it actually was in the movie. A screencap from the thread depicting the misquote and the "he didn't say that" response became a popular subject for edits based around nonexistent forced {{title drop}}s in other movies.[[/labelnote]]

** Similarly, Bateman's love of '80s era Music/{{Genesis|Band}} and his dismissal of their proggier era (Trespass to Wind and Wuthering) is also meant to show Bateman as delusional of his "good taste", but there really are Genesis fans who don't like their prog era and mainly prefer their poppier material that relate to Bateman's take on the band. This is often because of Music/PhilCollins' critical reappraisal and liking his music became cool again after his overexposure in the '80s died out.

** The part where he shoots at a couple police cars... all of which [[EveryCarIsAPinto explode]] [[StuffBlowingUp quite]] [[MadeOfExplodium spectacularly]]. [[LampshadeHanging In the movie, even Patrick is surprised.]]

** The soundtrack is comprised of the cheesiest '80s songs imaginable, and Patrick's tastes are often the subject of parody. Patrick's enthusiasm is oddly infectious, though. [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny This aspect can be lost now]], because a lot of the music featured that was despised in UsefulNotes/TheNineties [[PopularityPolynomial has been rehabilitated in the public consciousness, and has a lot more respect than when the book and especially the film came out]]. In particular, Music/HueyLewisAndTheNews actually had a ColbertBump thanks to this film.

** A particularly comical case of this is that Bateman, at some point, became a symbol of a "sigma male" who is "on his grindset"--that is to say, a guy who elevates himself above "distracting" female relationships to focus on becoming the hardest worker imaginable. This appears to be born out of people whose sole familiarity with Bateman is that he works on Wall Street and wears a suit, and therefore he must be a hard worker. In the actual film and book, Bateman never does any onscreen work whatsoever, a point is made to show his schedule is empty, and the film heavily implies that the only reason he has a job is that his dad owns the company.

** Patrick murdering Paul Allen is now [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy Batman]] swinging an axe in [[Film/SuicideSquad2016 the Joker]]'s face and getting investigated by [[Film/SpiderMan1 the Green Goblin]] for it. On a related note, the make-up used on Jared Leto's Joker could be described in the same way as Paul Allen's business card.

** In the film, Patrick's business card is actually pretty terribly designed, with poor spacing and many typography issues. It also misspells "acquisitions." These problems extend to the business cards of his coworkers too, since their cards are all almost identical; as [[https://hobancards.com/blogs/thoughts-and-curiosities/american-psycho-business-cards this business card manufacturer breaks down]], they all contain basic spacing and lettering mistakes, including the recurring misspelling of "acquisitions".

*** Similarly, Bateman's love of '80s era Music/{{Genesis|Band}} and his dismissal of their proggier era (Trespass to Wind and Wuthering) is also meant to show Bateman as delusional of his "good taste", but there really are Genesis fans who don't like their prog era and mainly prefer their poppier material that relate to Bateman's take on the band.

** In the book, Patrick Bateman is noted to be a [[FictionalFanRealCelebrity fan]] of UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump. Trump's support base now consists in large part of people from the middle-/lower-middle social class Bateman has contempt for (among others).

** Gloria Steinem was openly and vocally critical of the novel for it's treatment of female characters. Steinem would later marry David Bale, making her the step-mother of Christian Bale who would go on to play Patrick Bateman.

** UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's support base now consists in large part of people from the middle-/lower-middle social class Bateman has contempt for (among others).

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The book was published in 1991 but based on the culture of late 80s Wall Street yuppies. The book is an ''extremely'' specific ReferenceOverdosed satire, with some pages having a good dozen or so references to pop culture, fashion, brand-name products, food, locations, and people relevant to the lifestyle being satirized. In fact, the constant '80s references dated the book so heavily that the film adaptation nearly a decade later was made as an ''intentional'' period piece.

** From the first chapter, ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' is present in the form of bus ads, discarded playbills floating in the wind, and instrumental versions of songs playing in restaurants as characters try to debate which cast version it is. At the time the book is set, ''Les Mis'' was the trendiest Broadway show and getting the rare and expensive tickets was a sign of your wealth and influence. A story set in the modern era would use ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' as the comparative equivalent.
** The food Bateman eats is a parody of nouvelle cuisine, with unusual combinations of trendy or expensive ingredients in tiny portions for dinners that cost hundreds of dollars. All of the restaurants Bateman visits are either real restaurants that were popular with yuppies at the time or thinly veiled versions of them.

** Similarly, are Bateman's coworkers really as shallow, self-absorbed and prejudiced as he is? Or is Bateman projecting his own flaws onto them, either because he wants to feel superior to them or because he [[EvilCannotComprehendGood genuinely can't understand someone else in his position not being like that]]?

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Like much of Ellis's work, it's hard not to be jealous of the ultra-easy, financially stable lifestyle that the monstrous VillainProtagonist leads. As mentioned on this page, many viewers have taken to following some of Bateman's less-psychopathic (but otherwise shallow) lifestyle choices. It should be noted that none of the yuppie characters actually enjoy their decadent lifestyles, as they only go to fancy restaurants and the like for the sake of appearance rather than for personal satisfaction.