American Animals

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.

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.

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...

It's a clever film even when its characters are the opposite.

Supremely watchable and surprisingly poignant...

A very haunting film.

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.

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

What makes the movie good is that it is also a condemnation of same, illustrating just how quickly those worries burn off in the face of the alternative, a difficult life.

A movie that takes a tattered genre and manages to add some fresh elements to it.