Review of American Animals (2018) by Grantd243 — 10 Jun 2018

I liked American Animals much, much more than I expected to. Going in, I thought it was going to be a fairly typical heist movie, except that the heist was going to be performed by some college kids who had never committed any major crimes before, so I expected a fair bit of comedy.

But, this isn't your typical heist film. It's actually a film that is a blend of a documentary and a drama. The real life criminals provide their side of the story, and then their side of the story is acted out in a cinematic way, with the real life criminals making appearances throughout and sometimes altering the story, resulting in an altered cinematic portrayal.

Each criminal involved remembers things in different ways, or isn't even sure if what they remember is true, so the film shows some of the several possibilities of what actually happened. It was something different from what I've been seeing in the theater a lot recently, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The story follows a group of college-aged dudes who decide to steal some very valuable books from a university library. The whole idea of the heist gets started when one of the guys, Spencer, talks about how he wants a change in his life.

That change he desires, apparently, can be achieved through this heist. He doesn't realize at the time how far it will inevitably go, though, and as the story progresses there are plenty of twists and turns.

I was entertained nearly the entire time. The heist preparation, and then the tension building as heist day finally comes, is fantastic. There was a dip right at the start of the third act where it lost me for a bit.

Not very long, but my level of attention did drop for a few minutes. But then it eventually hooked me right back in, and I have to say I was satisfied with how it wrapped up. It's entertaining, different, and actually pretty damn funny at times.