April 08, 2025

Episode 273 - American Psycho

2 hours 49 minutes

“Do you like Huey Lewis and the News?” Join your favorite TransAtlantic podcasting crew – Ian & Liam (B-Tech Kev & Megs had to return some videocassettes) – as we slick back our hair, slip on the raincoats, and axe our way into our 273rd episode with a deep dive into American Psycho (2000). We’re trading poisoned apples for reservations at Dorsia (try the Sea Urchin Ceviche) as we discuss:

How American Psycho satirized toxic masculinity, consumer culture, and Wall Street excess with a killer smile.

Does Patrick Bateman still hold up as a character—or has society caught up with his brand of narcissistic nihilism?

Is the film’s horror in the violence… or in the soulless perfection?

How American Psycho explores identity, superficiality, and the slippery slope of sanity.

Which character we’d most likely be cast as – and who’s definitely the Paul Allen of the group.

Is American Psycho misunderstood because of its violence, or revered because of how it frames it?

This film gives us a chance to talk about two concepts we touched on last week: unreliable narrators and what exactly makes a character a protagonist

Speaking of complaints—what about the other men in Bateman’s world? Are they any better?

We've got questions about how soundproof the apartments by the park are that they don't hear chainsaws in hallways

We talk about whether all traditional masculinity is essentially toxic and Liam discusses his need for closure

Last week one of us made a prediction about the other's likely verdict on the film. Did they pull it off?

Whether American Psycho is the Best Film Ever.

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Massive thanks to Lex Van Den Berghe for the use of Mistake by Luckydog. Catch more from Lex's new band, The Maids of Honor, at https://soundcloud.com/themaidsofhonor.

Also, massive thanks to Moonlight Social for our age game theme song. You can catch more from them at https://www.moonlightsocialmusic.com/.

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