In one of the final scenes of American Animals, one of the real-life members of the group that stole a series of prized novels from the Transylvania University Library addresses the audience and says, “I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it.” This line perfectly sums up director Bart Layton’s terrific new film, which blends its factual heist drama with some intriguing characters, examining what causes a group of respectable college students to risk everything for the thrill of a serious crime.

The film follows the lives of four teenagers who carefully plan and carry out the heist of the valuable novels housed in the library, a true story that took place in 2004. The film primarily focuses on the friendship between Warren Lipka (Evan Peters), the man who comes up with the idea of the heist, and Spencer Reinhard (Barry Keoghan), who is torn between the morality involved with the heist and the thrill of it. Both actors are on top form. Evan Peters adds a significant amount of depth to what could otherwise be a one-note character. His determination to carry out the heist makes him at first seem one-dimensional, but his morals are shown in key scenes throughout the film that make the audience almost root for him. Keoghan also delivers a stand-out performance, allowing us to get into the mindset of a young man torn between having a normal life and the desire to do something immoral in order to give his life some sense of meaning.

The best aspect of the film is director Bart Layton’s handling of the subject matter. The film repeatedly cuts to interviews with the real-life men responsible for the heist, each of them remembering events slightly differently than the others. As a result, we see the same events play out from different perspectives, each of them differing either in minor or substantial ways. This is a really fun and entertaining tool, playing around with the fourth wall to try and give the audience the full story, despite some of the mens’ testimonies not tallying with the others. The film handles these differences in a fun and quirky way, making the whole thing feel much more entertaining than it would if those differences were dealt with more conventionally.

Despite the film working as pure entertainment, it also is a masterclass in tension-building. As the film progresses, the quirky humour begins to dissipate as the heist draws nearer. The film becomes truly suspenseful, despite the fact that the audience already knows the outcome: we know that these men get caught. And yet, as the heist plays out, the film effortlessly conveys a sense of confusion, panic, and suspense. Layton’s screenplay makes us care about each of the key characters, making us feel genuine sympathy for them, and portrays them more as a group of young adults that made a terrible mistake rather than real criminals.

Bart Layton’s American Animals is a well-acted and entertaining crime drama. It plays around with the fourth wall effectively, giving us a fun and interesting take on a true story, without sacrificing any of the story’s depth or characters. It works as a great piece of popcorn entertainment, but also has a surprising amount of nuance that will satisfy cinema-goers looking for something with a bit more depth. American Animals is one of the best films of 2018 so far, and earns a very high recommendation.







Author Details Seán Flynn Contributor Seán Flynn is in his early twenties and lives in a small town in Ireland. His ultimate passion is film, and he spends a great deal of his time getting trains to Dublin City to see obscure indie movies. He works at a cinema, and also enjoys reading. Favourite authors include J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, and George R.R. Martin. He has written reviews for ‘Grand Central Magazine’.