American Animals

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1:53

American Animals

R

2018

1h 56m

Crime

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

88%

Tomatometer

212 Reviews

82%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

Spencer Reinhard, Warren Lipka, Eric Borsuk and Chas Allen are four friends who live an ordinary existence in Kentucky. After a visit to Transylvania University, Lipka comes up with the idea to steal the rarest and most valuable books from the school's library. As one of the most audacious art heists in U.S. history starts to unfold, the men question whether their attempts to inject excitement and purpose into their lives are simply misguided attempts at achieving the American dream.

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Critics Consensus

American Animals tangles with a number of weighty themes, but never at the expense of delivering a queasily compelling true crime thriller.

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Wenlei Ma

News.com.au

10/05/2018

4.5/5

American Animals is a different kind of movie, a truly electrifying story with purpose and meaning but one that has also given us a new form of storytelling.

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Paul Byrnes

Sydney Morning Herald

10/04/2018

4/5

It's a clever movie, but not too clever. It's also thoughtful and engrossing, weird as hell. And it's true - or truer than most films that claim that label.

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David Stratton

The Australian

09/28/2018

4/5

American Animals, like the young thieves whose story it tells, seeks inspiration from classic movies, but it transcends this foundation in a probing look at the arrogance and inexperience of its protagonists...

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Guillermo Troncoso

Screen Realm

Oct 24

4/5

Despite flirting with overlength by the time the credits roll, American Animals is a deft, highly entertaining blend of heist film and documentary.

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JD Duran

InSession Film

08/07/2024

A

American Animals is one of the most unique experiences of 2018 so far. Perhaps its editing and tonal shifts will be too cumbersome for some audiences, but for me, there’s a lot of profound layers to Layton’s direction.

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Jason Adams

My New Plaid Pants

07/02/2021

The harder the movie worked at reminding me of its "This is Based on a True Story" bonafides I kept watching it through Fargo-tinted "True Story" glasses

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Tim A.

@TimmyTaco Jun 3

Had no expectations but really liked this movie. Really good job of weaving the story and acting in with commentary from the actual people involved. Also the actors played their parts really well. It was both really entertaining and really well done.

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Sal D.

@JustTheLaw May 25

I greatly appreciated the duality of the real life narratives however competing with the rendition of events played by actors. This made the film compelling. What the movie lacked and left it short of 4 stars was more insights other than short hand of the motivations of each of the four lead characters. Sure money is a motivator but unless withheld, none had prior records of theft so it wasn’t simply a windfall score.

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Alain E

@AlainE May 22

Not very absorbing overall. The use of interpolated segments featuring the actual perpetrators during the course of the narrative is ineffective and breaks the cadence. The end vignettes are much stronger. On Prime.

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Steven F.

@SteveGotScored Feb 19

One of the most exciting movies ever!

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Dwayne W

@Dwayneee Nov 30

American Animals is one of the most unique experiences of 2018 so far. Perhaps its editing and tonal shifts will be too cumbersome for some audiences, but for me, there’s a lot of profound layers to Layton’s direction.

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Don V

@bondo150 Nov 29

Shifting the docudrama balance to the latter half of the portmanteau, AMERICAN ANIMALS is well paced and inventive with the truth in a way that grips rather than grates.

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Bart Layton

Director

Barry Keoghan

Spencer Reinhard

Evan Peters

Warren Lipka

Jared Abrahamson

Eric Borsuk

Blake Jenner

Chas Allen II

Ann Dowd

Betty Jean Gooch

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American Animals: Trailer 2

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American Animals: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Spencer Reinhard, Warren Lipka, Eric Borsuk and Chas Allen are four friends who live an ordinary existence in Kentucky. After a visit to Transylvania University, Lipka comes up with the idea to steal the rarest and most valuable books from the school's library. As one of the most audacious art heists in U.S. history starts to unfold, the men question whether their attempts to inject excitement and purpose into their lives are simply misguided attempts at achieving the American dream.

Director: Bart Layton
Producer: Derrin Schlesinger, Katherine Butler, Dimitri Doganis, Mary Jane Skalski
Screenwriter: Bart Layton
Distributor: The Orchard
Production Co: Lava Bear Films, Raw
Rating: R (Language Throughout|Brief Crude/Sexual Material|Some Drug Use)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 1, 2018, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 14, 2018
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.9M
Runtime: 1h 56m