American Psycho

Warning:Spoiler Alert.

Now, this isn't highly controversial. It's about the film adaptation of the book American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. It's a good film, in my opinion. It makes you think and let's face it, it has a naked Christian Bale in it (the best kind). So why does it get so much hate? 
One: because the book did. The book itself is banned in many American states and sold in plastic bags to over eighteens only in others due to it's graphic violent and sexual content, both of which feature in the film. There is nudity on all sorts of levels and the sort of sick violence that really makes you wince- but not because it's truly horrible. Because it's almost funny. I mean, Bateman (the lead character) drops a chainsaw down a flight of stairs and cuts off a woman's head. And there's another head in his freezer, next to a pot of sorbet. As well a piles of bodies in every room. So you can see, it's not the sort of twisted, romanticized killing that we regularly see in tv shows and films. It is clearly a film about a mentally unstable man who kills a hell of a lot of prostitutes. 
Two: Because people don't understand it. Again, we bring forward mentally unstable Patrick Bateman, the killer and, frankly, the nutter of the film. In most of the scenes we see him hacking away at some poor woman's limbs. We see the piles of corpses and blood spattered walls. We see all of this, so why at the very end, after he has confessed to his crimes, do all the bodies disappear? Why are the walls perfectly white again? Why is the sorbet alone in the freezer? And this is what people don't understand- they take the film far too literally. You need to see the bigger picture. And that is: the killings never happened. All through the film there are key points at which the viewer should realise that what is happening is really a figment of Bateman's overworked, unstable imagination. Point one: The kitten and the ATM. An ATM tells Bateman to insert a kitten rather than a card. Point two: Bateman easily obtains threesomes with prostitutes despite beating them, something any prostitute is unlikely to put up with (unless it's part of their package). Point three: Bateman murders many policemen in cold blood and let's face it, that's not something that people are likely to let you get away with. Point four: the film is narrated by Bateman, giving the clear impression that this is some sort of schizophrenic illusion.
Finally: People don't like Bale in the role. I think that this was truly his breakthrough role and whilst not being a high point in his career, it was the turning point that led to him receiving some of his more celebrated roles.

So, I would just like to say: Watch the film or read the book and think about it and then think about it again. What's your interpretation?