I watched this on the train to Newcastle on the 25th of November, 2024.
I liked it! It’s definitely (very) dark comedy, and Bale’s performance is spectacular. I saw a review which said that he dove headlong into being absolutely despicable without any thought of self-preservation, which is the mark of a great actor, and that was exactly right.
I liked how completely unbelieving Bateman’s associates and ‘friends’ are. He says exactly what he is multiple times, culminating in two full confessions at the end to his lawyer, and yet the combination of an unreliable narrator, and their unwillingness to believe that one of them could be a serial killer, leads them to either mishear or outright deny his claims.
Ultimately, he’s a man who commits horrible deeds, and craves punishment for them, and is tortured and yet freed at the end by the realisation that he will never be caught. I was relieved the excesses of the book weren’t shown, that would have been too much.