American Psycho (2000)

The scariest scene in American Psycho is a table of bankers comparing business cards. Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman sweats over a rival’s card stock like it’s a ransom note, and that’s the joke Mary Harron builds the whole movie on: these guys are so empty the font matters more than people. Bale is unreal. The morning skincare routine, the dead-eyed smile, the music reviews nobody asked for, all pitch perfect. Willem Dafoe drops in as a detective and makes small talk feel like a trap. The problem is the satire has one gear. Once you get the joke, the middle repeats it at louder volumes, and the last act leaves half the room arguing about what actually happened. Audiences gave it a D CinemaScore, then turned Bateman into a meme for years. Its movie.guru score is a 5.9, but 860,871 IMDb ratings average a 7.6. An 8.6 because Bale turned a hollow man into the funniest, creepiest performance of his career. $106 says you judge the next business card someone hands you by its font.

What works: Christian Bale’s perfectly hollow Patrick Bateman and Mary Harron’s bone-dry satire of 80s greed.

What doesn’t: The satire runs on one gear, and the middle repeats the same joke at a higher volume.

Who it’s for: Fans of dark satire who think a business card can be a horror prop.