This goes unrecognized in his behavior, and he continues in his day to day routines and rituals. Bateman, like his fellow businessmen, is a bland faced and well spoken man with impeccably sleek hair, beautiful designer suits, sculpted glasses and embossed business cards. The only variable in their day comes from who has the better (i.e., more expensive) apartment, or business card, or trophy girlfriend.

Director Mary Harron co-wrote this adaptation with Guinevere (Go Fish) Turner, and shows a remarkable prowess for sinking her teeth into Bateman's world. With polished cinematography and carefully composed images, she films the beautiful men and women of his universe with style, delicacy and grace.

We see a place where the spacious white apartments and minimalist furniture could have been taken from Kubrick's futuristic fantasies, but clearly belong to the '80s judging from the Robert Longo artwork hanging on the walls. The clubs our Wall Street lads frequent smell of the stylized, carefully sprayed and modulated hair and the velcro attire. A man is judged by his ability to secure a tacky, overpriced restaurant where the specials come in small portions resembling the vacuous paintings of the '80s art world - all presentation and no substance.

Of course, it's not treated with such hoary seriousness as this might suggest. It's fit for our laughter and derision, and the acting in the film is broad and slightly caricaturish. Christian Bale's fascinating performance as Bateman suggests a man without a soul, whose Ivy League speech patters somehow feel premeditated, often discussing the state of the world, or the latest music by Huey Lewis and the News or Whitney Houston, as though he had learned it by heart.