10 Good Films Utterly Ruined By Their Awful Final Act

3. American Psycho

American Psycho I guess it was kind of the point for this one to be enigmatically odd €“ the film is meant to represent Patrick Bateman€™s unreliable mind, so having the whole thing peter off into strange confusion was probably apt. I guess you could call me a cultural philistine (or something less pretentious) for thinking that it might€™ve been cooler if Bateman had committed those murders and had to answer for it, but dammit, I reckon it would€™ve been good. Yes, I get the whole theme of Bateman€™s fantasies existing to satisfy his empty life €“ though not made clear in the film, the guy€™s the son of a big player in the company, explaining why he can do so little and get away with it €“ but still, there were multiple sides of the fence to come down on, and I think Mary Harron made a mistake in being so overt about it all being a dream. Even if Bateman didn€™t commit those murders, I think it might€™ve been better to not make it so clear that he was a fantasist €“ that way the film could be debated about, rather than discussed like a piece of art. Don€™t get me wrong, I loved the film, but I think it was too obvious €“ by making Bateman out to be such a pathetic figure, we're left with nothing to really think about,, and a colossal missed opportunity.
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Contributor

Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League. You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.