Patrick Bateman’s hilarious review of Whitney Houston
One of the most memorable aspects of American Psycho is Patrick Bateman’s hilarious reviews of the popular music artists of the 1980s. Within both Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 novel and Mary Harron’s 2000 film adaptation, Bateman expresses his joy for the likes of Huey Lewis, Genesis and Whitney Houston with an over-the-top satirical journalistic fervour.
Bret Easton Ellis included certain artists in the novel because he actually had a distaste for them, and by attributing them with the quality of being admired by the psychotic Patrick Bateman, he was slyly pointing the finger and essentially explaining how he thought they wrote shit music. He told Complex: “I knew these music chapters were going to exist, and it was really a chore, and I really wasn’t a fan of Whitney Houston, and everyone else in the era was. That, and Genesis, and Phil Collins, and Huey Lewis and the News – getting those reviews into the book, that was the most work I did and they were the hardest chapters to write. That was a miserable month of writing.”
Perhaps the best review of all of Bateman’s is his take on Houston because, given his psychotic characteristics, it’s just so at odds to imagine him sitting down on his spotless Italian leather couch with a very expensive glass of Chardonnay whilst getting down to The Voice’s biggest hits.
In the movie version of American Psycho, that’s precisely what Bateman does, though – well, almost, as he is joined by two female companions who do the getting down for him. During that time, Bateman patiently explains his love for Houston, completely detached from the ongoing scene before his eyes, drawing mocking remarks from one of the women.
“Did you know that Whitney Houston’s debut LP, called simply Whitney Houston, had four number-one singles on it?” Bateman asks, impressed. “It’s hard to choose a favourite among so many great tracks, but ‘The Greatest Love of All’ is one of the best, most powerful songs ever written about self-preservation, dignity.”
He continues: “Its universal message crosses all boundaries and instils one with the hope that it’s not too late to better ourselves. Since it’s impossible in this world, we live in to empathise with others; we can always empathise with ourselves. It’s an important message, crucial, really. And it’s beautifully stated on the album.”
The great irony here is that Bateman is utterly incapable of a) bettering himself – other than with material possessions – and b) empathising with another human being. We get the sense that Bateman has read and memorised the review in a music magazine rather than actually come up with it himself, further reinforcing his completely superficial character.
