Caught Stealing (2025)
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Premise: Set in 1998, a bartender (Austin Butler) gets mixed up in a criminal scheme that has him on the run from multiple groups of mobsters.
What Works: Caught Stealing comes from filmmaker Darren Aronofsky who is generally known for dark, intense, and despairing films such as Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, and Black Swan. By comparison, Caught Stealing is considerably lighter while still displaying the intensity and craftsmanship that has characterized Aronofsky’s work. The premise is Hitchcockian with an innocent man unwittingly caught up in a web of organized crime when mobsters mistakenly believe he is in on his neighbor’s scheme. The movie is breathlessly made. Aronofsky moves the camera purposely but ferociously, creating a kineticism that threatens to go off the rails. As fast as it is, Caught Stealing also allows space for a lot of character detail. Hank, played by Austin Butler, was once a skilled baseball player whose MLB dreams were dashed by a car wreck. Butler typically plays cool characters and while that’s the case here, Hank’s guilt is evident throughout Butler’s performance. Butler is paired with Zoë Kravitz as Hank’s lover Yvonne. The two of them are extremely likable as a couple and Kravitz brings a lot of personality to the role that makes Yvonne more than just a love interest. The gangsters are distinguished as well including Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio as a pair of Hassidic Jews, Matt Smith as Hank’s punk rock neighbor, and Regina King as a police detective. The gangsters are colorful but they’re not very smart and Caught Stealing is violent but also absurdly funny.
What Doesn’t: There are a lot of characters in Caught Stealing, some of them off camera kingpins machinating the scheme. It’s all a little much to keep track of and in the climax Schreiber and D’Onofrio’s characters engage in an assassination mission but their target isn’t clear. Caught Stealing overextends its credibility in a few places, most notably repeated scenarios in which Hank has been severely injured and then runs away. Early on Hank is beaten so badly that his kidney ruptures but somehow he is up and around within days. That’s a common artistic license in Hollywood films but this choice is incongruent with Caught Stealing’s realistic style. Zoë Kravitz’s character prematurely leaves the story. It’s a bold choice that isolates Hank and raises the stakes but it also darkens the film in a way that makes it less fun.
Bottom Line: Caught Stealing is an effective Hitchcockian thriller. It includes some bold choices that dampen the pleasure of the movie but Caught Stealing succeeds in mixing a crime story with a character piece.
Episode: #1064 (September 14, 2025)