INTRODUCTION
This is a quick review of the newly released film Caught Stealing. Please note that this is just one of the many movies I will have watched each year, and my initial grade for this film may change over time, for better or worse. To stay up to date on my thoughts about other movies and any potential changes in my opinion on this one, follow me on Letterboxd.
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PLOT
Via Letterboxd: Hank Thompson was a high-school baseball phenom who can’t play anymore, but everything else is going okay. He’s got a great girl, tends bar at a New York dive, and his favorite team is making an underdog run at the pennant. When his punk-rock neighbor Russ asks him to take care of his cat for a few days, Hank suddenly finds himself caught in the middle of a motley crew of threatening gangsters. They all want a piece of him; the problem is he has no idea why. As Hank attempts to evade their ever-tightening grip, he’s got to use all his hustle to stay alive long enough to find out.
REVIEW
Quite a while ago, Darren Aronofsky was set on directing an adaptation of Charlie Huston’s novel Caught Stealing. Rights issues killed that plan, but flash forward to today and Aronofsky finally got the project off the ground, with Huston himself onboard to write the screenplay. Add in Austin Butler as the lead and an ensemble featuring Zoë Kravitz, Regina King, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, Bad Bunny, Carol Kane, and more, and the potential for this was promising.
The marketing, however, sold a very different film. Trailers pitched a stylish romp; Butler as a heartthrob on the run from quirky, larger-than-life criminals, with Kravitz as his sultry love interest. But anyone familiar with Huston’s book knows the truth that this is a gritty, brutal thriller about a man pulled into a nightmarish spiral, where every criminal either wants to use him, kill him, or set him up as their fall guy.
First and foremost, the cast does the heavy lifting here. The script is often dull and uneven, surprising given Huston adapted his own material, but the performances elevate it. Especially Matt Smith who makes a sharp impression in his limited screen time, and Butler who proves himself a bona fide movie star. His sheer presence carries the film and gives Hank’s chaotic, tragic journey real weight. Without him, I wouldn’t have cared half as much.
The film occasionally tries to inject levity, but make no mistake, this is a dark story. Hank is put through the wringer in ways that will make you wince and sometimes make your heart sink. Which makes the marketing even more baffling; I understand wanting to sell tickets, but audiences expecting a slick, pulpy adventure may walk out feeling blindsided.
Structurally, the film falters. The chaos escalates in ways that feel manufactured for “holy shit” moments, and certain beats are repeated enough to make it feel like the story is spinning its wheels through certain stretches. The tension holds, but the narrative discipline doesn’t.
That said, the performances, vivid characters, and sheer curiosity of how it would all resolve still kept me engaged enough. I’m torn between a B- and a B+. Right now I lean toward the former, because the script really limps but the ensemble (and especially Butler) kept it from sinking into C-tier disappointment. Caught Stealing could’ve and should’ve been better, but for what we got I was at least entertained.
GRADING
Fair