In 2003, four university students - Warren Lipka (Evan Peters), Spencer Reinhard (Barry Keoghan), Eric Borsuk (Jared Abrahamson) and Chas Allen (Blake Jenner) - attempted to steal several rare books from the Transylvania University Library in Lexington, Kentucky. American Animals tells the story of the heist, how it was planned and the effect it had on all those caught up in it. Shot like a docu-drama, writer/director Bart Layton has intercut the story with interviews with the key players, as well as their parents, teachers and staff at the library. The cast's genuine performances blend and contrast with the interviews perfectly, in order to give us all the excitement and optimism before the robbery and the clarity of 20/20 hindsight that comes later. What makes this all very interesting is that Layton doesn't try to amalgamate the different perspectives. He acknowledges the fact that they all remember parts of the story...