Caught Stealing (2025) Written Review

Caught Stealing

Cast: Austin Butler, Zoe Kravitz, Matt Smith

Writer:Charlie Huston

Director: Darren Aronofsky

*** and a 1/2 *'s out of 5

For those familiar with Darren Aronofsky’s filmography.  Caught Stealing is going to be very different.  There are no rapid fast cuts or hip hop style montages as in Requiem for a Dream and Pi.  There are no camera techniques or use of music and sound effects  that brings attention to itself like in Black Swan and mother!  No docu like style as in The Wrestler and The Whale.  And, most certainly not as much religious allegory as there was in The Fountain, Noah (and yes mother! too).  Ok there is some but only a small smidge.  Nope, Mr. Aronofsky trades all of his usual bells and whistles for a basic crime caper and the results are quite good. Look after years of dark and somewhat depressing dramas.  It’s nice to see a filmmaker try something different and this may be his most experimental film so far. Just like when David Lynch made The Straight Story for Disney.  It's a very different style than he's done before 

The story focuses on Hank(Austin Butler) a once former baseball profit who lost his chance to play in the majors after a bad car accident.  He has a girl he loves named Yvonne(Zoe Kravitz) and a decent job as a bartender at his local pub.  One day his punk rock friend Russ(Matt Smith) asks if they could watch his cat while he visits his dad.  Unbeknownst to our lead character, a group of criminals come searching for Russ because he has an item they want. Things become more complicated when Hank gets drunk and doesn’t quite remember where he put the item they want.  Add to this mix an unscrupulous detective(Regina King) a hasidic jew hit squad(Vincent D’Onofrio and Liev Schreiber) and a nosey neighbor who builds websites and your left with a movie that is just basic fun. 

Except for the great cameo during the end credits. There are no really big hidden plot twists or anything to make this stand out from other crime capers.  There are probably other features who have told this same story and probably much better too.  But just because the story being told is familiar doesn’t make it any less fun.

Not all movies need to be this grand awe inspiring thing that will transcend your emotions or make you think differently.  Many of Darren Aronofsky’s other films hit you on a strong emotional level hard that it’s refreshing to see a movie that doesn’t leave you drained at the end.  The cast all work great with each other and you do become invested in the story, even if you know how it is all going to end.

Most of you after leaving this movie when asked how was it, will say that Caught Stealing was ok.  Not terrible, not great, just average and honestly being average is a very cool thing for a movie to be.

I'm a proud member of the Minnesota Film Critics Association.  Read my bio below.

https://mnfilmcriticsassociation.com/2024/09/25/jasonhemming/