how did he get away with all of this?

it's like he had a gardening angel or something

it was in his head that's the point of the movie also lol gardening

>>213519697
Oh! So that’s why it’s called American Psychic

>>213519679 (OP)
I wish I had a gardening angel, mowing the lawn is tiresome desu

A confusing situation, huh? Almost like the one the Main Character was in in the movie, huh? Can't make sense of it? Doesn't make sense? Confusing?

NOW YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS, WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD, JACKASS!

I think I just had a breakthrough about this movie.
Simply put, it is as confusing to watch as it was for Patrick to live through. No clear answers. Got a problem? Call a lawyer or go see a shrink or something. Nice talk, Mr. Allen. See you at the office on Monday.

>>213519697
Had a Reddit coworker who hated this CORRECT explanation. Just wanted to believe that Patrick Bateman was actually a “le serial killer”

>>213519679 (OP)
Even Bateman himself is confused by his ability to allude punishment.

>how did he get away with all of this
I know, it's terrible. Someone should bring that maniac Paul Allen to justice.

it's clearly left intentionally vague and you're not supposed to walk away with a clear answer of what was real or not. It could've all been in his head due to some schizo/psychotic break, or perhaps even be a mix of things that actually happened coupled with hallucinations. It's not a stretch to say he actually stabbed that homeless man because of how tame it is compared to everything else, but the ATM asking him to feed it a cat is very clearly imagined, and it only leads to further questioning of what could be real or hallucinated. It's not clear. I don't believe he'd be able to get away with dropping a chainsaw on a bitch's head, too much commotion.

>>213519697
>>213519754
some of them were in his head, some of them weren't

>>213519679 (OP)
nobody cares about yuppie scum

>>213519679 (OP)
Because it's a drug/insomnia fueled delusion.
American Psycho is a young man's quarter life crisis coming to terms with the fact he is not a young boy anymore, that he hates his friends, his girlfriend, and his life.

This is further expanded on in the sister novel about Patrick Bateman's younger brother and sequel novel where Patrick Bateman marries his secretary and has a child. Only to now be coming into his mid-life crisis phase.
The entire novel takes place only in a few weeks time where he has been binging cocaine and like 5 different anxiety pills nonstop.

>>213520143
the only murder I can imagine being real in the film is the homeless guy he kills. It works a lot better imo if it's all just repressed rage

1. It was all in his head

2. New york yuppies were such interchangeable NPCs nobody notices when they get brutally murdered or cares

>>213520215
He didn't imagine the investigator. A running gag of the movie is that nobody knows anybody's names, that's why his confession falls flat at the end and the guy believes Bateman is making a practical joke (and he didn't even know he was talking to Bateman at first either). Some of the murders are real.

>>213520215
Yeah that's what I think too. I haven't read the book in a few years, so I don't know if there's more murders than the film.

I have a confession: I have never seen this film. But this film and Truman show have been so thoroughly discussed on film/tv forums sicne the 00s I have picked up the entire plot of these films 10 times over.

i love this autism simulator lmao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGjpu-2gqwI

>>213520190
>sister novel about Patrick Bateman's younger brother and sequel novel where Patrick Bateman marries his secretary
What

>>213520360
>>213520215
Though arguable he never murdered anyone.
The novel infers that
>He killed a man that just looked like Paul Allen and in his delusion actually believed he killed Paul Allen, hints his confusion over the entire situation
>The prostitute with the rat in the anus
Everything else is either daydream fantasy, unreliable narration from him, or just didn't happen.

Also for the record
This isn't even Paul Allen's apartment in the movie. Supporting the theory.
As he literally walked into a random dudes apartment and put a random message on the messaging saying saying "This is Paul Allen blah blah blah."

>>213519679 (OP)
>gardening angel

>>213519679 (OP)
That’s all good and everything but let’s see Paul Allen’s card

>>213520449
What did he do with Paul Allen's bodies? After he kills them they just seem to vanish. There's a whole logistics of getting rid of bodies, which is more of an adventure than the killing itself.

>>213520461
Patrick Bateman is a character in three different novels.

In the one, his younger brother is in college.
He is a yuppie little faggot and represents Patrick (the idea of being a rich spoiled brat) in youth.
American Psycho represents this idea in early adulthood.
The sequel novel represents this idea as a midlife adult.
The entire trilogy is a take on nihilism, refusal to grow, adapt. Extreme yuppie culture, etc.

In the sequel novel Patrick married his secretary, has a child, and is contemplating divorce because his "urges" have started to come back.
Or more easily stated, he is having a midlife crisis.

It was all in his mind, now check 'em

>>213520190
He killed Paul Allen for sure, over some petty grievance and jealousy, because there's a detective asking about where he went. No one has any answers. the detective thinks its Patrick Bateman, but has no evidence yet, and is trying to get him to slip up. That's what all his scenes are about and why he keeps interviewing him in casual settings. No body, no crime yet, but he wants a slip up.

It's wild that Jared Leto is Paul Allen. Jared is actually a talented character actor who slips into minor roles like a chameleon and you dont' even notice him. That's why his attempts at playing 'cool' or leading role characters just falls flat. his ego wanted him to be a leading man, but he isn't cut out for that.

>>213520600
No he didn't.

see
>>213520475
He literally murdered either a random person or a completely different coworker that looked like Paul Allen in his delusions.
He goes to the apartment and leaves a message on the messaging machine that was not Paul Allen's machine.
This is supported because William Dafoe's character does not
1. Come back to the apartment, which Patrick has multiple dead bodies at and tons of self incriminating evidence.
2. No one checks on the lead or mentions the answering machine lead.
3. Paul Allen is quite literally alive at the end of the movie and had dinner with their mutual lawyer.
4. William Dafoe's character also confirms that Paul Allen is alive (a character outside of their world RELIABLE NARRATOR).

You're confused about the narrative of this film entirely.
The real estate agent that questions Patrick knows him to be the killer because a random man was killed and that was HIS apartment, not Paul Allen's apartment.
Otherwise every one of their coworkers would be.

1. Gossiping of Paul Allen's death.
2. Gossiping about who now has The Fisher Account

the novel also supports this theory, but in different small ways also.

Very nice. Now let's see Paul Allen's seed spacing intervals.

>>213520700
Paul Allen is dead, the lawyer gets people mixed up and didn't even recognize Patrick Bateman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE6AVp-2Jic

>>213520773
Bro I don't know how to tell you you're wrong any more than that.
The lawyer didn't recognize Patrick Bateman because Patrick Bateman is not as important as Patrick Bateman thinks he is.
he is a literal nobody, just another of the 50+ vice junior president yuppie trustfund kids that work at the business.
Paul Allen he would not confuse, Paul Allen has The Fisher Account and gets reservations at Dorsia.
Paul Allen is someone worth remembering and you would remember having dinner with him.
Not to mention William Dafoe's character also once again confirms Paul Allen is alive.

You once again do not understand this movies narrative. It's about a man going through a quarter life crisis because he hates his life and has done nothing meaningful in it. So he goes on a drug binge and POSSIBLY murders a few people.
Which Paul Allen is not one of those possible murders.

>>213520898
>The lawyer didn't recognize Patrick Bateman because Patrick Bateman is not as important as Patrick Bateman thinks he is.

He's not a lawyer he's BATEMAN's Lawyer. How do you not even recognize one of your own clients?

>>213520898
>You once again do not understand this movies narrative. It's about a man going through a quarter life crisis because he hates his life and has done nothing meaningful in it. So he goes on a drug binge and POSSIBLY murders a few people.

Likely autobiographical, not in the literal sense, but the feelings of the author. He's a homosexual man, and there's a kidn of fagginess to Bateman. Obsessing over fashion, looks, cleanliness, etc. ellis was 27 at the time of the publication of the novel, meaning he's almost exactly the same age as Bateman, and same situation in his life. Likely his own frustrations and annoyances and grievances. Then he got thinking "man, fi I was one of those wall street guys in this sitaution, I'd probably go mad enough to kill somebody"

>>213520944
So in my take, the characteres of the film have the culture and aspects of homosexuals, but not the direct sexuality. none of the characters are gay, but they don't act like straight men with straight interests. They're obsessive about fashion and status and looks and appearances, in ways more typical of WOMEN.

And that aspect is completely missed, because they only see the surface. you can see this as just as much a critique of female vanity as anything, as women do all this kind of nonsense constantly.

>>213520437
same but only truman show

>>213520904
HE IS THE BUSINESSES LAWYER.
HE IS LITERALLY A RETAINER FOR THE ENTIRE BUSINESS.
He isn't just Bateman's lawyer.
He is a lawyer to hundreds and hundreds of people at that single business and Patrick Bateman is not nearly important as you try to claim he is.

>>213520944
Interesting take, don't really have a counter proposal as I've never considered it before.

>>213521001
I mean they are all incredibly feminine.
What straight man cares if you get a fucking reservation at a fucking restaurant.
What straight man cares about how a fucking apartment looks to such an extent
>omg his apartment is better looking than mine

let's not forget the scene with Luis Carathers that is a possible dramatization in Bateman's mind of Luis soliciting a romantic/sexual encounter with Patrick.
Since Patrick is an unreliable narrator, it's possible Luis did not solicit anything and if your theory would be correct, Patrick would be rejecting his own desires for a homosexual encounter.

I don't particularly agree in your entirety, but I think it's a point worth considering.

>>213519679 (OP)
> gardening angel

He has bodies rotting in his apartment but none of it makes sense. Bodies rot and they STINK of death. You can't just have dead bodies aroudn without anyone noticing. They fall apart and attract flies.

This isn't an ambiguous ending at all if you've read the book. He killed everybody. The whole point of the book and movie is that all people care about is things. If you find it confusing, the two main points to understand are 1) The real estate agent at Paul Allen's apartment asking Bateman if he saw the ad in the Times, Bateman saying yes, the agent saying that there was no ad in the Times. Basically, the real estate agent found the carnage in the apartment but rather than call the police and have the property value plummet, she cleaned it up herself (or had it cleaned up) and never told anyone. When Bateman shows up there, she knows who he is and what he did, but again, for her own financial well being, she just tells him to leave and never come back. 2) The lawyer saying he had dinner with Paul Allen in London. A major part of the novel (also in the movie, but not to the extent that the novel does it) is that people constantly mistake one another for different people. The lawyer thinks he had dinner with Paul Allen, but it was somebody else who looked like Paul Allen or dressed like him or had a similar job.

I think the murder really happened. Why else would the detective ask Bateman about Paul Allen's missing? In the end, this scene provided Bateman with an alibi, when all he wanted was to confess his crimes and stop the mayhem. The characters simply don't give a shit about each other and constantly keep forgetting each other names and faces. Despite his ruthlessness, I think Bateman is the most human of them all. It's like his cruelty is a form of expression and revolt with the world he lives in. Everybody else are just zombies. Literally the walking dead. Just drinking, smoking, talking about money and being fake to each other.

>>213519743
>I think I just had a breakthrough about this movie. Simply put, it is as confusing to watch as it was for Patrick to live through.
Congrats, youve achieved basic sentience

The point isn't that he imagined killing everyone, and it isn't that he killed everyone and they're covering it up. It's that despite the fact that he doesn't know either, he realizes that neither outcome matters, and that's far worse. He's going to keep killing and keep getting away with it. It doesn't matter if it's real. Whether he's a murdering psychopath that no one acknowledges or just a crazy person imagining all of it, it doesn't change the fact that he's trapped in a situation where both outcomes equally don't help him. By the end of the movie, all he wants is recognition and retribution for his actions, and he'll never get it.

I really don't believe in theories that everyone knows but its all a big cover-up because of his dad or company, it's just too shallow, and neither the theories of him imagining the whole thing. Point of movie is totally different. Important thing everyone forgets is how often do rich people in movie mistake each other, forget faces, confuse names, etc. Thing is, he did kill everyone, but since all of his ''friends'' are all self-centered, not caring about anyone, mistaking him often for someone else, often accidentally created alibis for him. Also, people simply couldn't realize he could do it because he is perfect, handsome, rich, classy, charming, successful, and he was ruled out as murderer even when it was obvious he was one. And those few people that actually found out what he did either didn't want to reveal so they wouldn't cause problems (real estate agent and his lawyer), or just couldn't since no one would believe them ( Jean). All that is ironically a big punishment for Bateman since he expects to be punished for what he did but keeps evading the law because by sheer luck and all those things i already mentioned. Movie is actually a criticism of ultra capitalist self-centered society, where no one really notices anything that is not about themselves, especially the poor, needless ones like prostitutes, homeless people, etc (he said he killed 5-10 homeless, even he didn't remember the number, showing how unimportant they are, and there was prob no investigation about any of that murders), and society that has too much respect for those successful ones so they can get away with anything.

People always think he either killed everyone or that it was all in his head. But I think that what really happened is that he did kill Paul Allan but then everyone else after that is just him losing his grip on reality after murdering someone. Now whether the lawyer simply mistook a man in London for Paul Allan or he's lying to protect Bateman is irrelevant, there's simply too much evidence in the movie that Bateman did kill Allan.
But for everyone else afterward, people talk about the fact that he obviously imagined the ATM scene or blowing up the cop car but the most obvious moment that tells me that he's imagining everything is the girl he killed by dropping a chainsaw. Not only is that even more impossible to pull off than blowing up two cop cars instantly but more importantly, in the next scene, he's drawing her corpse being impaled by the chainsaw...he was just imagining the last scene, it was all in his head to escape another boring dinner with his fiancee. There's also his confession where he's not even sure if he killed 20 people or 40. Serial killers remember their kills, they celebrate each of them. But Bateman couldn't keep his story straight about any of his kills except for Paul Allan, which is the only time in the confession where he's happy and bragging. Not only that but his murder of Allan was clearly premeditated and well-thought-out, with the raincoat, the newspapers on the floor, the alibi, etc. But everyone else in the movie he seems to kill on a whim.
He killed Allan and then, since he seemingly got away with it scot-free, started imagining how he could just kill everyone else he wanted to without consequences and, because of his poor mental health, even started hallucinating that he was doing it. But I truly believe he killed no one but Allan.

>>213520126
>>213519697
What matters is that he has no way of telling if these murders are real or not, because he lives in a world without consequences. He easily could have killed someone and his lawyers or dad or anyone would cover it up and lie about it, fact is he lives in such an insulated and fake world, that any amount of violence or proest against it, whether it be real or in his head, has absolutely no effect. So, like many of us, Patrick is trapped in a world so fake that none of his actions *can* matter. Just like me

>>213521326
>youve
You're getting there, too. Good luck.

Why was he always returning videotapes?

>>213521607
active /tv/ user

>>213520898
As a nepotism hire myself, sounds like I should read this book

>>213521001
Perhaps true but that’s really all a distraction when this sort of condition/crisis can happen to anyone

>>213521279
The point is you don’t know, and Patrick can’t know, because he’s a fake person in a world that has of way of just protecting and handling people like that

>>213521447
Yeah everyone really believes I can’t spell because I omit an apostrophe. True

>>213519679 (OP)
>gardening angel
Fucking ESL. Throw yourself in front of a train, Rajesh.

>>213519754
You don't even have a job, you fat jackass.

If you look at his television whenever it's in the background, you'll notice that it's always playing some sort of video-tape. One time, it plays a porno vhs, then the next time, it plays the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Since Bateman feels the need to be ostentatious and outdo everyone, any person he feels even slightly inferior to, no matter how minute the difference is (eg: a business card), gets murdered in Bateman's fantasy world, like Paul Allen, and the murders that occur in Bateman's head are based on the videotapes he watches. Also notice that whenever Bateman says that he needs to "return some videotapes", he's either annoyed or making up an excuse to leave. One could assume that Bateman would fantasize about killing the person that annoys him later on. When Jean finds his secret notebook, it's full of sadistic pen drawings of Bateman's mutilated victims, giving more evidence to the fact that thse murders are probably either fantasies or daydreams. And finally, it turns out that "Patrick Bateman" isn't really Patrick Bateman, meaning that Patrick Bateman is probably an identity that Christian Bale's character invented that commits these murders.

>>213519679 (OP)
>gardening angel
This could be an interesting idea for an anime about an angel fighting demons with a hoe and shears.

>>213522090
so batman was just self inserting into his geek flicks?

>>213519679 (OP)
All it takes for evil to prevail

>>213520651
Well he know has hiw own cult on a private island so I think it all came out fine for him.

>>213521171
After watching the Jeffrey Dahmer miniseries on Netflix I learnt that even if you keep a rotting corpose in a fridge it's still going to stink out the whole apartment

>>213520494
This whole thread was so OP could post that one joke and nobody noticed kek

>>213520898
fpbp

>>213519679 (OP)
Well, there was that one scene where Allen is praising his homegrown tomatoes, so maybe he did.