Brilliant cast and story told with style and heart

Absolutely brilliant way to tell this story

Excitingly told and engaging in a way that somehow manages to make the audience feel, even route for, the four young men even as we know, that what they're doing is reprehensible and will only lead to disaster.

I enjoyed this. The story was captivating. I did not enjoy how they mixed in the interviews with the real people from the story. It didn't need to be a dramatized documentary. That could have been saved for the credits or a separate documentary. But I was truly anticipating each next step. Fascinating true story.

I walked into the wrong auditorium and saw this by accident. I was ambushed and ultimately blown away by this story, and the cast.

one of the best heist films i have ever seen

Amazing movie ..because of the combination of interviews with the real people !!!

Gud muvie, looks like payday for noobs playing for the first time

One of the most underrated movies of 2018. While not big on action, it's loaded with tension and dark humour.

A generally good film thats gets a bit cheese/cliche at times. I think the whole part real movie/documentary was interesting and had its benefits but at times also felt weird and clunky. The telling of the overall story had moments that were just straight weak. At the same time from a character study stand point there are some really interesting ideas going around. The basic question of why these people did it is an interesting question that makes us ask big questions about who we are as a society. A good viewing that I think many would enjoy.

Excellent movie! Tense in all the right places, great directing beautiful imagery and makes you think

Wow…definitely one that makes you wonder how, and more importantly why, "critics" have given this such a high score. I guess you're supposed to be thrilled by this story and really care about bad people.

The build up is a bit too long but when it kicks into gear it is a heart pounder. Then it peters out at the end. Squanders a bit of its potential by dragging things out. An amusement park ride that gains speed very slowly then goes like all hell for a bit near the end and coasts to a slow stop. Worth watching, well acted and written. Very effectively creates tension among a wide variety of other moods and feelings. The characters are alternately fairly smart and very dumb. Interesting themes are brought up but not always explored.

Riveting from beginning to end, American Animals is such a captivating tale, driven by POWERHOUSE performances. I can't recommend this movie enough and I'm SHOCKED it remains such a sleeper.

Hated how the movie was constantly interrupted by the interviews. Either make a movie, or make a true crime documentary. It also baffles me how thieves/criminals are again glorified and made into victims. Here's a harsh truth: Robin Hood is fictional.

This movie is awesome. Really creative. Give it time because it starts off kind of like a documentary (which I almost turned it off), but then it turns more into a cinematic experience. Brilliant concept, great acting, beautifully shot. This is a director to keep your eye on and a movie worth seeing. It inverts the concept of exploitation, by portraying a botched heist and it doesn't align with it's own characters. it nearly pities them. It's a really unique approach that I don't think I've seen before. Even the pulpier aspects carried weight. Had some heart-pounding moments without using any of the expected genres tropes.

A mocking, cynical and depressing film with a story that is neither fun or needed telling. This does not deserve to be in the heist movie conversation.

I must say, this is a different kind of heist movie. It's not an Oceans 11, or any of those films that treat a robbery as something glamorous and have you rooting for the robbers. This is about four college kids who decide to rob a university library for several extremely rare books. The film goes back and forth between actors plotting and then pulling off the heist, and the real participants, reminiscing on what they had done. A very powerful and thought-provoking movie. Kudos to everyone involved!

Quite well done entertaining. The casting for the four college students was right on. The interspersing between the movie and the real people added a lot to the accuracy and believability of the film. Can't believe these kids thought they'd get away with it! And they made such stupid mistakes!

Great flick. A, mostly true story