To go into Tom Ford`s "Nocturnal Animals" with expectations would be doing the film a major disservice. It is not high art, but it does maintain your interest throughout. It is schlock with class. At least for the better part of its 116 minutes it is an exercise in style, just like Ford's first film "A Single Man," except here there is more to chew on, more thrills, more overall everything. "Nocturnal Animals" has Amy Adams' art gallery owner Susan (when is she ever bad?) suffering through a nasty marriage with a husband (Armie Hammer) that is cheating on her. She also has a ex-husband Tony (Jake Gylenhaal), a failed writer. She fucked up with Tony, her mother's bourgeois influence getting the best of her, and also the fact that she found him too sensitive, too weak to truly satisfy her and her youthful energy. Now an adult and realizing what life and love really is about, she is filled with regret. Lo and behold a package comes in the mail. It's a new novel by Tony and it hits her hard. It's violent and filled with unspeakable acts. To reveal more would be sinful because part of the pleasure of watching Ford's film is to be surprised by its ludicrousness. It's a movie movie filled shocks and awes and highly stylized costume and set designs. The film's balance of B-movie thrills with more subtle nuances can be shaky at times, but to not give in to Ford's delicious mind-teaser would be a cinematic sin [B+]