American Psycho

INT. PASTELS RESTAURANT- NIGHT

An insanely expensive restaurant on the Upper East Side.

The decor is a mixture of chi-chi and rustic, with swagged

silk curtains, handwritten menus and pale pink tablecloths

decorated with arrangements of moss, twigs and hideous

exotic flowers. The clientele is young, wealthy and

confident, dressed in the height of late-eighties style:

pouffy Lacroix dresses, slinky Alaïa, Armani power suits.

CLOSE-UP on a WAITER reading out the specials.

WAITER:

With goat cheese profiteroles and I also have an arugula

Caesar salad. For entrées tonight I have a swordfish

meatloaf with onion marmalade, a rare-roasted partridge

breast in raspberry coulis with a sorrel timbale...

Huge white porcelain plates descend on very pale pink linen

table cloths. Each of the entrees is a rectangle about four

inches square and look exactly alike.

CLOSE-UP on various diners as we hear fragments of

conversation. "Is that Charlie Sheen over there?" "Excuse

me? I ordered cactus pear sorbet."

WAITER:

And grilled free-range rabbit with herbed French fries. Our

pasta tonight is a squid ravioli in a lemon grass broth...

CLOSE-UP on porcelain plates containing elaborate

perpendicular desserts descending on another table.

PATRICK BATEMAN, TIMOTHY PRICE, CRAIG MCDERMOTT and DAVID

VAN PATTEN are at a table set for four. They are all wearing

expensively cut suits and suspenders and have slicked-back

hair. Van Patten wears horn-rimmed glasses.

The camera moves in on Bateman as his narration begins:

BATEMAN (V.O.)

We're sitting in Pastels, this nouvelle Northern California

place on the Upper East Side.

The Waiter sets down plates containing tiny, elaborately

decorated starters. As he does so we hear Bateman's

description of each of the men at the table.

BATEMAN (V.O.)

You'll notice that my friends and I all look and behave in

a remarkably similar fashion, but there are subtle differences

between us. McDermott is the biggest a**hole. Van

Patten is the yes man. Price is the most wired. I'm the

best looking. We all have light tans. Right now I'm in a

bad mood because this is not a good table, and Van Patten

keeps asking dumb, obvious questions about how to dress .

VAN PATTEN:

What are the rules for a sweater vest?

McDERMOTT

What do you mean?

PRICE:

Yes. Clarify.

McDERMOTT

Well, is it strictly informal-

BATEMAN:

Or can it be worn with a suit?

McDERMOTT

(Smiling)

Exactly

BATEMAN:

With discreet pinstripes you should wear a subdued blue or

charcoal gray vest. A plaid suit would cal I for a bolder

vest.

McDERMOTT

But avoid matching the vest's pattern with your socks or

tie. Wearing argyle socks with an argyle vest will look

too studied.

VAN PATTEN:

You think so?

PRICE:

You'll look like you consciously worked for the look.

VAN PATTEN:

Good point. Excuse me, gentlemen.

Van Patten leaves the table. As he does so, a busboy

discreetly removes their largely untouched plates.

BATEMAN:

Van Patten looks puffy. Has he stopped working out?

PRICE:

It looks that way, doesn't it?

McDERMOTT

(Staring at retreating waiter)

Did he just take our plates away?

PRICE:

He took them away because the portions are so small he

probably thought we were finished. God, I hate this place.

This is a chicks' restaurant. Why aren't we at Dorsia?

McDERMOTT

Because Bateman won't give the maitre d' head.

(He guffaws)

Bateman throws a swizzle stick at him.

McDermott scans the room, settling on a handsome young man

with slicked-back hair and horn-rimmed glasses.

McDERMOTT

Is that Reed Robinson over there?

PRICE:

Are you freebasing or what? That's not Robinson.

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