American Animals

"The answer to the question “what is the difference between a narrative feature film and a documentary” might ordinarily seem rather elementary. But British director Bart Layton, following up his intensely gripping 2012 doco-thriller The Imposter, shrewdly complicates matters in the fascinating American Animals, recounting an idiotic heist attempted by a handful of Transylvania University students in 2003. Is this a documentary with narrative elements, or a narrative feature that incorporates documentary?"

"It’s difficult to describe the second film by writer/director Bart (The Imposter) Layton without making it sound a) like a lot of other films, or b) shit. It’s Man On Wire meets Fight Club; Ocean’s Eleven via American Honey; Tarantino with teens. See?"

"A riveting college-boy crime caper that tiggers along on pure movie-movie adrenaline, before U-turning into a sobering reflection on young male privilege and entitlement."

"There is something soulless and mechanical about "American Animals," as if it had been made by a Martin Scorsese smartphone app and scored to a Spotify classic rock playlist."

"All in all, American Animals is at once a stylish thriller and an insightful documentary."

"A supremely-crafted doc/fiction hybrid which is genuinely innovative, pleasingly entertaining and deliciously more than the sum of its parts."

"The holes in the script are a pesky issue, but filmmaker Bart Layton's blend of recreations and real-life participants commenting on the action gives this true-crime comedy an edge."

"What initially appears to be a slight, if entertaining, true-crime heist romp, in fact, hides untold depths in a muscular offering from The Imposter director Bart Layton."

"While the participants in "American Animals" only imagine they're different, the film about them is the real deal."

"A crackerjack real-life heist thriller."

"The heist genre is one that's been done to death, but with American Animals, filmmaker Bart Layton manages to pull off something wholly unique."