Act Four: Yes, I still need to find time to watch 'American Psycho'

There are three categories of things I watch.   Alyssa Rosenberg on culture and politics   From left, Shailene Woodley, Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman in “Big Little Lies.” (Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/HBO) Every week, I answer a question from the Monday Act Four Live chat in the Wednesday edition of this newsletter. You can read the transcript of the March 20 chat here and submit questions for the March 27 chat here. This week, a reader adds a voice to a chorus making a single request. So I think you agreed on a Live chat to finally watch the Trump-iest of movies, “American Psycho,” last Halloween. Did it ever happen? If not, try another pitch for it. Your peers such as Emily Nussbaum for New York Magazine and Willa Paskin for Slate compared Reese Witherspoon’s role as Madeline Mackenzie on HBO’s “Big Little Lies” to her role of Tracy Flick in “Election,” but Tracy Flick isn’t the “Queen Bee”-type (she’s kind of friendless and noted that she isn’t from as affluent a background as Madeline) and more power hungry than a social climber. The character in Reese Witherspoon’s filmography that matches more up (to me at least) is her role of Evelyn Williams in “American Psycho.” Reese Witherspoon in promoting “Big Little Lies” noted most folks forget she’s in “American Psycho” which is too bad since granted it’s only a few scenes and I’d wish the movie had more of Evelyn since it’s a pretty comic performance, but you can see Evelyn syncing up with Madeline more easily than Tracy Flick although safe bet others might disagree. Anyhow just for you to enjoy “Big Little Lies” on another level, you might like to check out “American Psycho” if you haven’t already. I wanted to share this reader’s comments because I am loving “Big Little Lies” and enjoyed this analysis. But I also wanted to take a minute to explain why, though I badly want to watch “American Psycho,” and other classics that I missed in my largely pop-culture-free youth, I haven’t been able to find time to do it yet. The things I watch essentially fall into three broad categories (sometimes a piece of pop culture will fall into more than one): things that I watch because they’re currently airing or about to hit theaters, things that are not current but that I’m watching for a specific project or purpose, and things I watch for pleasure. To take some of what I’m watching this week as an example, I revisited “Selena” on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of its release for a piece, went to a screening of “Colossal” — a monster movie that hits D.C. in April — and my husband and I have been watching “Legion” so that we can get current and start watching it weekly. “Selena” fell into the second category, “Colossal” into the first, and “Legion” into the first and third. “American Psycho” hasn’t yet fallen into any one of those categories: It’s not close to an anniversary, and while I know I should have watched it, I’m also aware that it’s probably going to be a somewhat tense experience for me. That said, “American Psycho” director Mary Harron is directing all six episodes of an adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s “Alias Grace” for Netflix, so I’ll finally have my reason. Readers, as soon as we’ve got an “Alias Grace” premiere date, you have my permission to start holding my feet to the fire on “American Psycho.” ADVERTISEMENT   Abortion is a women’s issue. So why do men dominate media coverage of it? A study of major news organizations found that men wrote more stories about abortion and campus sexual assault than women and that they quoted more men than women. By Alyssa Rosenberg  •  Read more »   Twenty years ago, ‘Selena’ offered Hollywood a lesson it still hasn’t learned "Selena" should have given Hollywood the confidence to tell Latino stories. As usual, the industry didn't listen. By Alyssa Rosenberg  •  Read more »   Forget President Trump. Come to D.C. and get to know the city behind the ‘swamp.’ A Trump administration can't make Washington uncool or destroy the city's unique culture. But by demonizing us, he can turn Washington into a weapon he'll wield against the rest of the country. 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