Someone sporting a tattoo on their upper arm of a dinosaur trying to turn off a ceiling fan is worth the watching. And that someone is Transylvania University student Warren Lipka (Evan Peters), described by one teacher as “a little bit of spice in the brioche”, who craving change in his otherwise humdrum existence enlists the help of artist friend Spencer Reinhard (Barry Keoghan), who harbours a similar desire “for some kind of life-altering experience”, to hatch a plot to steal one of the most valuable books in existence – The Birds of America by the famed ornithologist and painter John James Audubon – along with other rare books from the university library’s special collections including a valuable edition of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species from which the film takes its name.

Out of their depth and in a bit of a pickle, they soon come to the realisation that they’re “going to need a bigger boat” – one of the many movie references which pockmark their audacious plot and influence the pulse-racing score by composer Anne Nikitin (Dark Horse) – and call upon a pair of childhood friends to plug the gaps in their skill set: the entrepreneurial jock Chas Allen (Blake Jenner) and the intelligent loner Eric Borsuk (Jared Abrahamson). Together they form a rainbow coalition with rainbow-coloured names: Mr Green (so named because he’s fond of a spliff) is in charge of make-up and wardrobe; Mr Black by name black by soul is in charge of logistics; Mr Yellow, his mum’s little sunshine, is in charge of arranging a buyer; and Mr “just to fuck with him” Pink is in charge of the getaway.

But as Robert Burns wisely wrote, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley”. And their house cards collapses in a heap when they fail to “non-factor” their “single biggest risk”: a female librarian of a mature vintage by the name of Betty Jean Gooch (Ann Dowd) who refuses to go gentle into that good night. Panic kicks in, Plan B goes out the window and rookie errors stack up and tumble like Jenga blocks.

British filmmaker Bart Layton follows up his Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning directorial debut The Imposter with another riveting documentary which this time is more drama reconstruction than fly on the wall. Think Crimewatch meets The Keystone Cops. Interspersing key milestones of the heist with straight-to-camera pieces from the fraud quad, their parents and teachers, Layton and his team of editors have created a gripping and giggle-inducing yarn which if it were not for the severity of the crime and the trauma experienced by “B.J.” could almost be billed as a black comedy.

The questions at the heart of which are posed by the real-life Betty Jean Gooch towards the end of the film: what drives people to cross the line to hurt others to get what they want? and how do they live with themselves afterwards? Judging by the neutered “American Animals” fourteen years after the heist, facing a future indistinguishable from everyone else and with great difficulty.

Director: Bart Layton
Writer: Bart Layton
Stars: Spencer Reinhard, Warren Lipka, Eric Borsuk
Peter Callaghan
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