Title – Caught Stealing (2025)

Director – Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream)

Cast – Austin Butler, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Regina King, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio

Plot – Once a promising young baseball prodigy now a down on his luck New York City barman, Hank Thompson (Butler) gets embroiled in dangerous world of crime when his neighbour Russ (Smith) becomes the target of the cities criminal underworld.  

“You run away from what you’re afraid of, then it owns you”

Review by Eddie on 01/12/2025

Arguably the least Darren Aronofsky feeling film of his career, the man responsible for the likes of Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler and recent hit The Whale is back with the almost impossible to categorize dark comedy crime drama Caught Stealing, an intriguing experience that’s never able to make the leap into the territory of a must-see.

A collaboration with screenwriter Charlie Huston, here adapting his own 2004 novel, it’s hard to know exactly what Aronofsky wanted the audience to get from Stealing as it blurs the line between straight up crime drama, cat and mouse thriller, Coen Brother lite dark comedy and quirky New York fable, becoming a much gloomier affair than audiences might be expecting when they first meet Austin Butler’s down on his luck ex-baseball prodigy Hank Thompson in NYC in the late 90’s.

Unafraid to pull some shocks, unleash some serious carnage and let its cast of unsavoury individuals loose throughout its running time, Stealing keeps things moving at a fairly rapid pace and Butler is as good as his ever been as the likable but frustrating Thompson but you can feel Aronofsky’s Americanised version of Snatch is never completely at home with itself as it jumps around its jam-packed narrative and colourful characters.

Starting out straight forward enough, there’s an abundance of stories within stories to be found here, from Thompson’s tragic backstory, his relationship with Zoe Kravitz’s kindly paramedic Yvonne, Matt Smith’s scene-stealing mohawked Russ and keys hidden in highly ingenious places, Stealing is a lot and by attempting to balance out so many things it once it never feels as though anything is allowed to grow or prosper the way they might have had Aronofsky managed to dial in with more focus as his films chaos and carnage takes hold.

While much of Stealing does feel slightly unfocussed and even at time scattershot, there’s no denying that there’s an energy here that feels palpable and raw and the collection of performances from the films talented cast can’t go unnoticed with Butler in particular proving the diverse nature of his talents, proving once and for all he’s more than Elvis or a bald big bad with his Thompson a perfect chance for the rising star to test his mettle playing an everyday person up against the tidal wave that can be life, Butler shines here whether his hanging out with his talented human pals/enemies or a snarky feline.

Attracting decent reviews and audience reactions upon release as well as acceptable box office hauls from around the globe, it would be hard to call Stealing a raging success but it provides a good time for those checking it out if they’re willing to partake in a seriously bleak crime caper that at times masquerades as a dark comedy outing.

Final Say –

Arguably not the modern crime film it might have been with a little more fine-tuning, Caught Stealing is an interesting latest addition to the Aronofsky C.V that provides good solid cinematic value while showcasing the increasingly undeniable skillset of its leading man Austin Butler.

3 1/2 cat litter trays out of 5