Considering Darren Aronofsky’s filmography consists almost entirely of dark psychological dramas such as Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan and The Whale, making a crime caper like Caught Stealing is an unusual change of pace. The shift was likely a much-needed reprieve for him, since this is the first of his films that is not relentlessly bleak. However, even with a strong lead performance from Austin Butler and a talented ensemble cast, the only depressing thing about Caught Stealing is—like its protagonist—its unrealized potential.
Set in New York in 1998, Butler plays Hank Thompson, a former high school baseball prospect from California who lost everything in a drunk driving accident that injured his knee and killed his close friend. He is haunted nightly by the incident but drowns out the nightmares by drinking heavily at his bartending job, obsessing over the San Francisco Giants with his mother on the phone, or spending time with his paramedic girlfriend, Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz).
One day, his rowdy English neighbour, Russ (Matt Smith), leaves for London to visit his father and asks Hank to take care of his cat, Bud, while he is away. Not even a day later, two Russian gangsters storm the apartment looking for Russ and violently beat Hank instead.
Before Russ’s sudden departure, he stashed a large sum of money and managed to anger several groups at once: the Russians, a Puerto Rican gangster (Benito Martínez Ocasio, a.k.a. Bad Bunny), a no-nonsense detective (Regina King) and a pair of Hasidic Jewish hitmen (Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio). Hank is forced into a game of survival as all of these personalities converge on him, demanding to know where Russ and the money are. His loved ones are left in just as much danger as he is.
“The only depressing thing about Caught Stealing is—like its protagonist—its unrealized potential.”
Caught Stealing is based on Charlie Huston’s 2004 novel of the same name. Huston, who also wrote the film’s screenplay, draws inspiration not just from the post-Tarantino wave of ’90s crime films in the style of Guy Ritchie, but also from Martin Scorsese’s 1985 dark comedy After Hours. The film’s “one man’s hellish adventure across a stylized New York” structure is directly reminiscent of After Hours, down to the casting of Griffin Dunne in a small role as Hank’s boss, Paul.
The problem is that Aronofsky and Huston are unable to balance the humour and the violence in a way that feels cohesive. The overall story is messy, with so many double-crosses and sudden deaths that, by the halfway mark, almost none leave a lasting impact. Few characters are given the chance to develop before they are killed off, with most reduced to a single defining quirk.
It is unfortunate, because the ensemble cast is strong, even if some performances feel as though they belong to entirely different films. Schreiber and D’Onofrio are the standouts among the supporting cast, and their commitment to observing Shabbat in the midst of high-stakes crime provides some of the movie’s funnier comedic beats. Bad Bunny’s appearance is brief, but he makes a memorable impression.
“Caught Stealing has the right ingredients for a wild crime caper, but they never mesh into a satisfying whole.”
The film’s greatest strength lies in its co-leads: Austin Butler and his cat. Butler once again proves his leading-man charisma, with Hank serving as a strong vehicle for his talents. While Hank is not a particularly deep character, Butler brings more nuance than expected. Even when playing it cool, he is convincing as an ordinary man swept into extraordinary circumstances by bad luck. His chemistry with Zoë Kravitz is electric, which makes it frustrating that their relationship is sidelined for much of the film. As for Bud the cat, played by Pet Sematary feline Tonic, he is simply adorable. Each time the camera cut to Bud, the audience responded with a collective “aww.”
Additionally, the film’s grungy aesthetic looks sharp thanks to cinematographer Matthew Libatique. Amusingly, with both this film and Highest 2 Lowest, Libatique shot two New York–set crime stories back-to-back, each featuring a chase scene through a subway station packed with rabid baseball fans.
Caught Stealing has the right ingredients for a wild crime caper, but they never mesh into a satisfying whole. The closing credits capture the zany energy more effectively than the film itself. While it is never dull, and it is refreshing to see Aronofsky attempt something more playful, the result never comes close to measuring up to its contemporaries. I would only recommend it to dedicated fans of the genre who have already exhausted the far stronger alternatives.
