Caught Stealing review

CAUGHT STEALING: 

DARREN ARONOFSKY CRAFTS QUITE A FUN CAPER…OH, THERE’S A CAT TOO! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES

Austin Butler, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, Regina King, and Bad Bunny in Caught Stealing

 

            Director Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, Black Swan, The Whale) goes from Oscar-winning Brendan Fraser drama to chaotic and “Cat-astrophic” crime-comedy in his new film, Caught Stealing. The film is based on the book of the same name by Charlie Huston who also wrote the screenplay for this movie. 

            This was on my list to see given its director and cast, I think Darren Aronofsky is a very fascinating director though his projects can be hit-or-miss at times. But when he knocks it out of the park with things like Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, Black Swan, etc., he fucking knocks it out of the park. 

            Granted, I saw The Roses and the new version of The Toxic Avenger first, but as soon as those films were done and reviewed, I went straight into this. So, how does Caught Stealing hold up compared to Aronofsky’s other projects? Honestly, I had a great time with this film. 

            I don’t think it’s as amazing as The Wrestler or Black Swan, but I was entertained throughout and invested in the story and characters. It honestly feels like a Darren Aronofsky version of a Quentin Tarantino or Guy Ritchie movie in terms of the tone and dialogue. 

            The film is set in 1998 and follows Henry “Hank” Thompson (Austin Butler-Elvis, Dune: Part Two, The Bikeriders), a former high school phenom who can’t play anymore and now works as a bartender at a New York dive. He’s got a great girlfriend named Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz-Mad Max: Fury Road, Spider-Verse franchise, The Batman) and his team is making an underdog run at the pennant. 

            But when his British punk-rock neighbor, Russ (Matt Smith-The Crown, Morbius, House of the Dragon) comes to his door asking that he takes care of his cat, all hell breaks loose as Hank is soon thrusted into a conflict between the Russian mafia among other gangsters that all want a piece of him. The problem is Hank has no idea why they’re all coming after him. 

            The film also stars Regina King (Mighty Joe Young (1998), The Boondocks, If Beale Street Could Talk) as Det. Elise Roman, Liev Schreiber (Scream franchise, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) as Lipa Drucker, Vincent D’Onofrio (Men in Black, Jurassic World, Marvel Cinematic Universe) as Shmully Drucker, Benito Martínez Ocasio “Bad Bunny” (Bullet Train, Cassandro, Happy Gilmore 2) as Colorado, Griffin Dunne (40 Days and 40 Nights, Dallas Buyers Club, Ex-Husbands) as Paul, Carol Kane (Annie Hall, Sleepwalk with Me, The Dead Don’t Die) as Bubbe, and Yuri Kolokolnikov (6 Underground, Tenet, Kraven the Hunter) as Aleksei. 

            Overall, Caught Stealing is certainly a wild ride throughout and about as different as you could get from the poignantly powerful, The Whale from a few years ago. This is probably the most fun (and funniest) Darren Aronofsky film I’ve seen that likely won’t make buzz during awards season, but just being an entertaining movie with endearing characters and a mystery with a fair amount of twists here and there is really all this movie needed to be which it is. 

            This definitely feels like Darren Aronofsky is paying homage to the works of Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino with a lot of dark comedy, witty dialogue, and an overabundance of colorful characters. It’s the classic tough guys that do violent things while making wise-cracks along the way sort of setup and if you’re familiar with films like Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or even Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs, you should know what kind of movie this is. 

            I laughed a fair amount of times during this movie and both the writing and delivery I found genuinely funny. The banter between Austin Butler and Matt Smith is great, Liev Schreiber and Vincent D'Onofrio as these two Jewish gangsters alone got some of the biggest laughs out of me, and Regina King trying to make sure Butler isn’t “Fucking with Her” regarding the information he gives her is a funny running joke. 

            The performances left and right are excellent, Austin Butler is a great leading man, Matt Smith is always a blast to watch and even in a piece of shit movie like Morbius, he’ll manage to be the most consistently entertaining part of the movie. Zoë Kravitz as the girlfriend doesn’t have a whole lot of laughs, but she gives the film a strong emotional anchor and Regina King as the police detective is the best I’ve seen from her outside of voicing Huey and Riley Freeman and there’s a twist surrounding her I legitimately didn’t see coming. 

            While I thought the main characters were great, I felt some of the side characters were sort of hit-and-miss in terms of their comedy. Sometimes it works like with Butler’s nosy neighbor when there’s a ruckus in the apartment lobby, but other times you got Butler’s bar friends who desperately try to go for the laughs and it mostly comes off as awkward. 

            Despite a few bumpy points, Caught Stealing is a gripping, well-acted, and above all fun crime-comedy from Darren Aronofsky that is the best Guy Ritchie movie since The Gentlemen in 2020 that isn’t actually from Guy Ritchie. It has thrills, it has laughs, it has a mystery that keeps you on your toes, and it has solid performances all-around, this movie is the best kind of “Steal”. 

            Also, Sony just did Nintendo 64 product placement in this movie and there’s not a single PlayStation in sight!