American Animals took me by surprise. I wasn't familiar with the true back-story about the events depicted in the film. I can accept it's a film and there may be deviations from the actual events at times. That said the movie feels like a very welcome blend of a documentary and a heist movie. While it's no action blockbuster it reaches a fine level of entertainment by well placed actual interviews with the real perpetrators and a fantastic sense of humor. It's still a black atmosphere as a level headed person watching just wants to shake the main characters and say "wake-up". The idea is so stupid, but it gets the point that within a person who is fairly intelligent, yet bored, there's a need for some kind of excitement. Most folks get involved with less benign ways of course. Here things go toward the unthinkable, at least in logical terms. This is the hook. The movie weaves the decent of these smart kids fantasies slowly becoming reality. It builds tension, and all without the usual Hollywood heist bombast. It's really sad, but since you see it as a voyeur it's safe and engaging. I do like heist flicks and I do feel Hollywood has actually ruined the genre more than ran with it. This is a film that gets so much across about the angst and unsavory elements it's actually a refreshing take on the genre. Plus it tells an interesting true crime story and as such still should reach a broad audience. I give the writers, director, and the actors kudos for stealing back the heist genre and doing with originality and aplomb. In the end you really feel sad for the mis-guided actions of four young men and the aftermath that will always remain with the librarian victim and the families who received such a shock.

Four young men mistake their lives for a movie and attempt one of the most audacious heists in U.S. history. American Animals was nowhere near as good as i was expecting it to be plus to be honest? i was expecting the whole 'heist' thing to have some heart and energy to it but unfortunately it didn't have any of that. The overall acting was also not as great as i was expecting especially from Evan Peters plus Blake Jenner's role was quite smaller than i imagined. It's not a bad film to say but it's definitely not as great as the trailer suggested or as i expected. (5/10)

American Animals, falls into a select group of films through no fault of the film itself, has been reduced to a pretty bare bones and very limited release just playing in a handful of theatres across North America. Having just seen the film last night, I was wondering as I was watching it why the film's distributor didn't choose to be a bit more adventurous and give the film a wide release. Was it because the distributor only has certain amount of seats allotted to them, or was it not a finanically viable option? Either way, I think that even if the film's current distribution company couldn't for whatever reason give it a wide theatrical release that any number of big players could very easily have done so and I could almost guarantee that with the right marketing and with the positive reviews and word of mouth that the film already has going for it, that it could become quite a hit and the reason that it hasn't already done so is because for most people it is not playing in theatres that are anywhere close to where they live, so henceforth leaving the option of either driving a long distance to see it, or catch it when it becomes available on streaming. I think more major studios need to take bigger risks by releasing films like this because I think they would score more with audiences than they think they would. Anyone now can tell you that their basic movie multiplex is full of all the lastest Marvel, Star Wars and superhero films which do seem to take in a large amount of the money that the box office brings in, but I would encourage these major theatre chains as well to also cater to a smaller demographic and bring in films that maybe an older audience, or an audience who has far outgrown your usual Summer movie fare has to offer because for myself I find that within the last little while my theatre trips are becoming less and less frequent for the simple reason that there is nothing worthwhile playing and I am so very fortunate when a film like American Animals does come along to have a much needed break from the normal fare that is out at this time of year. The film is based on a true story and combining aspects of a documentary as well as the film being a fully realized and played out drama, it becomes one of the most fascinating as well as entertaining films of this year and what the cinema has had to offer lately. I was quite impressed by the film's overall style with it's mix of 60's and 70's musical tunes as well as flashing between the past and to the present where we see the real life perpetrators of the crime depicted in the film in reality and get to see their thoughts and opinions about what made them decide to do what they did and also giving us a look at basically these characters had for the most part everything going right for them in an academic, or career oriented way and just out of sheer boredom, or really having nothing else to do, came this not very well thought out idea of pulling off a heist at their local university library. Whether the following events were true, or not, either way the film makes for some of the most thrilling times you are bound to see in a theatre thus far this year and it has a great mix of comedic scenes, drama as well as a good sense of suspense and timing when the said heist is actually attempted. The young actors here who I am mostly unfamiliar with all do a very commendable job of showing you what drives them to do this event all at the same time showing that we can not always figure out the reason they did it. The parents don't seem to be overly involved in the film, but whether that was factual, or just an aspect they didn't seem to show I don't know. One of the main characters we see his parents living in a very strained and dysfunctional relationship that later leads to divorce and you can't help but wonder if that had any effect on the decisions that this character would later make in the film. Otherwise these characters seemed to be bored and had little else going on in life and as we hear from their very own mouths, we see that they regret the decision to ever get involved in these events and if they had sitten down and thought rationally, or talked to an older, or more mature person, these events most likely would not have been carried out. It is a fascinating yet disturibing look at society and what makes and triggers people to do the things that so often destroy not only ourselves but those and our society around us. American Animals doesn't try by answering any of these questions, but instead takes us on a thrilling ride that is just as much for contemplation as it is for entertainment and with that perfect balance it becomes one of this year's must see films.

The whole thing was utterly ridiculous, supposedly true but still ridiculous. Four idiots. So many "holes" in the thought process of these four main characters that it's embarrassing to think they actually "walk among us" and believed this heist would have a positive ending. One of the worst movies we've seen this year; we wasted our money and over 2 hrs of our time.