I remember seeing the trailer for this movie at the beginning of Donnie Darko. It was so bizarre and told you so little about the movie that my girlfriend at the time and I went out the next weekend and rented it.
This was my first experience with a movie based on a Bret Easton Ellis novel (and still my favorite adaptation). The film follows a bizarre love triangle between three college kids. Sean falls in love with Lauren, who used to date Paul, who’s now gay and in love with Sean.
What I loved about this movie was how intensely dark the humor is which is nothing new in the world of Ellis obviously. Things like drug overdoses, drug abuse, attempted murder and rape are looked at with such a blank faced lack of concern that it goes from disturbing and shocking into hilarious.
It’s also incredible to factor in that James Van Der Beek was still a teenage heart-throb when he chose this role of Sean Bateman. A womanizing, drug dealer who is in general a terrible human being (also the brother of Patrick Bateman of American Psycho).
One of my favorite elements of this film was the editing and soundtrack. The music gives the film an 80’s vibe (the time period the book took place in) while still clearly being modern time. Meanwhile the editing is constantly rewinding and fast forwarding sequence for us to see what multiple characters are doing at any given point.
If you want to check out a surreal and sadly underrated drug/sex/college dark comedy, this is that genre at it’s finest.
Matt Kelly can also be found hosting The Saint Mort Show, Co-hosting the Reddit Horror Club Podcast, Writing for Geekscape,Tweeting and running Dollar Monday Promotions.
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