I like the fact this was a true story. I just felt the movie dragged on. I would have liked it better at 1:30.

was a different kind of crime movie was very interesting

A movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat, even if you know the story - a must-see!

It took awhile for the pace to pick up, but once it did, I was hooked. A convenient but stark contrast to usual "heist movies" which have become very "paint by numbers."

For all its mode-bending gamesmanship, American Animals is ultimately a fairly straightforward heist movie, albeit a stylish and engaging one.

A.A. Dowd

The A.V. Club

Both as a writer and director, Layton delivers the dramatic goods here with the skill of a pro at the top of his game while adding the rueful perspective of time's reassessment of youthful indiscretions; this has to rate among the most accomplished and fully realized big-screen debuts of recent times.

Todd McCarthy

The Hollywood Reporter

American Animals is fiercely entertaining from start to finish, even when its characters are acting so dumb that you start to suspect they still have some more evolving to do.