MovieChat Forums > American Animals (2018) Discussion > Why did they mess up the robbery?

Why did they mess up the robbery?

posted 6 years ago by Memeito (364)
8 replies | jump to latest

They looked like smart guys that thought of everything, but instead they made some really amateurish mistakes, what exactly happened?

[–] TalkinPikchorBox (2250) 6 years ago

Um, they were amateur?

[–] Memeito (364) 6 years ago

Yes, but it looked like they knew what they were doing, I mean the movie didn't really show them as idiots or anything like that, until the robbery actually took place - then it was one mistake after another...
I've read about the real-life heist behind this movie, and I expected this film to be more of a comedy, but it wasn't and it doesn't feel quite right; imagine if a movie like Ocean's Eleven would show the characters planning a heist in great detail, and then at the last moment they make some really stupid mistakes and they are immediately caught - this would be a pretty unusual tone shift to what seems like a regular heist movie.

[–] NoEasyBuckets (346) 6 years ago

Ocean's 11 is a fictional movie about a bunch of career criminals coming together for a big heist. American Animals is a movie based on the true story of a group of college kids who had never committed a real crime in their lives, yet for some reason thought they could imitate a movie like Ocean's 11. You can't plan for nerves. Plus even with all of the planning they clearly never came to grips with taking the librarian out of the equation.

[–] ghostboy (652) 6 years ago

What happened? The universe was working against them quite simply, as you said they thought out everything, but the day of all days they chose, there happened to be 4 people in the library, which threw off the whole initial plan, so the next day they carried it out but got lazy and sloppy, they just wanted it over and done with. The mistakes they made were simple but fatal mistakes anyone would make in a high-pressure situation.

[–] exatera (3955) 4 years ago

I just watched this, and I disagree with pretty much all of these points. They made an extremely poor job of planning. Use the same email? Give the art expert the guy's actual cell phone number? 🙄 These are extremely stupid mistakes.

Plus they never thought out how they would carry such large and heavy books - they brought some kind of tablecloth or something that was too slippery and didn't help them in any way. They should have brought belts to fasten the books together, maybe some jumbo size backpack(s) or something, or at least a cover made of more grippy material.

AND they should have done their research - how was it that they didn't even know the basement would be dark and non-operational? Having to carry such enormous books out the front door obviously changed everything.

Nor were they even wearing gloves once in the room.

Just really extremely stupid all-round, and I have to say, I thought they were smarter than that at the outset.

[–] actionkamen (23176) 6 years ago

It's what happen when a job is done not by professionals. Imagine 4 random regular students tried to build an apartment. Or 4 random regular students tried to race in MotoGP. Or 4 random regular students tried to gang up on a Karate master. It's expected that they would fail. Miserably.

[–] pepetoony (1744) 4 years ago

You can never plan for every possible scenario. They didn't know the lights would be out in the basement. Whoopsie daisy!

[–] exatera (3955) 4 years ago

Except that they should have (planned for every possible scenario). They should have done their research, they should have come prepared - it was all extremely stupid the way they actually did it.

Their blunders were so bad this was uncomfortable to watch.