American Animals

Talent in Attendance

Truth is almost always stranger than fiction. This true story of four middle-class suburban college students in Lexington, Kentucky, who decide to rob Transylvania University of millions of dollars in rare books is a heist movie for the ages. Director Bart Layton, whose previous film, the 2012 documentary The Imposter, hinged on a near disbelief that that the “true” events could have ever possibly occurred, flips the script on that idea by dramatizing a real event and casting a stellar group of actors, including Evan Peters (American Horror Story), Barry Keoghan (Dunkirk), Blake Jenner (Everybody Wants Some), and Jared Abrahamson (Netflix’s Travelers) to tell the tale. But in a Machiavellian twist, Layton intercuts American Animals with footage of the real Spencer Reinhard, Warren Lipka, Eric Borsuk, and Chas Allen—who don’t agree on the narrative at hand but are willing to comment on it and sow seeds of doubt that the film is even getting it right. It’s a masterstroke of storytelling chicanery that will leave audiences amused, enthralled, and shocked at the tall tale.