MOVIE · 2018

American Animals

CrimeDocumentaryDramaThriller117 min

In Lexington, Kentucky, in 2004, four college-age men hatch a plan to steal rare books from Transylvania University's library. Evan Peters's Warren Lipka is the loudest voice behind the idea, while Barry Keoghan's Spencer Reinhard gets pulled from daydreaming into the scheme's increasingly detailed blueprint. Standing between them and the collection is librarian Betty Jean Gooch, portrayed by Ann Dowd. The film moves between dramatized scenes and interviews with the real men behind the crime, letting their accounts overlap, contradict one another, and reshape the same story.