Caught Stealing, 2025.
Directed by Darren Aronofsky.
Starring Austin Butler, Zoë Kravitz, Regina King, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, Griffin Dunne, Bad Bunny, Carol Kane, Will Brill, George Abud, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Action Bronson, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Gregg Bello, Nikita Kukushkin, and Tonic.
SYNOPSIS:
Burned-out ex-baseball player Hank Thompson unexpectedly finds himself embroiled in a dangerous struggle for survival amidst the criminal underbelly of 1990s New York City, forced to navigate a treacherous underworld he never imagined.
It would be fair to say that Caught Stealing marks something different for director Darren Aronofsky, but not entirely true. Yes, it’s a chaotically breezy and amusing late 1990s-set crime caper about disgraced fictional once-upon-a-time MLB draft prospect Hank Thompson (Austin Butler radiating charisma and livening up the proceedings even when surrounded by genre tropes), who finds himself caught up in a mess involving drugs, money, and gangsters.
This is also a mercilessly mean film (written by Charlie Huston, adapting his own novel) that refuses to let the character off the hook, not only reminding Hank of how much of a screw-up he is at every turn, but actively punishing other characters within his sphere for his mistakes. The fact that part of that involves alcohol abuse is more than enough to suggest what attracted the Requiem for a Dream (which covered several vices in harrowing, tragic detail) filmmaker to the project.
Darren Aronofsky is drawn to characters with addictions like a runner with speed stealing bases. This means that even when Caught Stealing is overly familiar or getting every ounce of meaning possible from its admittedly corny but pleasantly welcome baseball metaphor for Hank’s disastrous life and subsequent mild redemption (keyword mild, because not even protecting a lovable cat for 107 minutes is necessarily enough to overlook the harm some of his actions cause to others), it’s fascinating in ways modern mainstream action flicks aren’t anymore.
No character is safe, whether insignificant or a major player. The film also isn’t bashful when it comes to getting sexy in an age when nearly every mainstream wide release that comes out is sexless, sometimes even if the film is centered on some form of romance or intimacy. Hell, Darren Aronofsky goes a step further, giving the undressing and sexual positioning a stylish flair, playing into the fact that he is shooting bona fide movie stars (working with frequent cinematographer Matthew Libatique). Then the contrived yet entertaining plotting kicks in, involving Hank coming into possession of a key (and then losing it in a drunken haze) that leads to a hefty sum of money at an unknown location that dangerous criminals of various nationalities are after. In this sense, Caught Stealing also feels like a film from the 90s, and something Guy Ritchie would have made decades ago before losing his mojo.
Not only is the film littered with foul language and sardonic ribbing, but there are also plenty of eccentric characters, such as British punk rock-styled Russ (an unhinged and unrecognizable Matt Smith), leaving New York to visit his dying father back in the UK. His only request is for Hank to check in on his cat. Sounds simple enough, except there are already different groups of mobsters (played by everyone from Bad Bunny to Liev Schreiber and more) poking around, which quickly brings Hank into the drama and badly beaten up.
Afterward, Hank’s kidney is removed, which means his drinking has to stop. It’s a commitment he makes to his girlfriend Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), also serving as one of her demands if the relationship is going to become more serious. Given that a tragic incident ruined his life, someone else’s, and took away Hank’s dreams of potentially playing for the San Francisco Giants (or any team in the MLB), drinking is a bad habit he often falls back on. In traditional Darren Aronofsky fashion, there is a binge spiral, and from that point on, life is a living nightmare for Hank, as if to prove a point and force him to stop running from his past once and for all and carve forth a new future.
From there, Caught Stealing pushes Hank in all sorts of directions and alongside characters on both sides of the law, unsure of how much he should involve Detective Roman (Regina King). There’s nothing that necessarily reveals Darren Aronofsky as possessing a hidden masterful knack for directing action, but star power, energy, character banter, a cat, and frequent check-ins on how the San Francisco Giants are playing are more than enough to keep the proceedings reasonably fun. The onslaught of action sequences also makes use of appropriate locales, such as the outskirts of the New York Mets’ Shea Stadium and the surrounding train station.
Aside from the themes, Caught Stealing doesn’t evoke a Darren Aronofsky film, but it remains a worthwhile detour in his portfolio; it’s a turn into something lighter that shows, in the process, the filmmaker still can’t help but let out his darker impulses. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell if he is fighting against himself or the source material to get back to levity with the story, and that’s part of what makes this undeniably compelling despite its flaws. He made the ultimate depression combo consisting of Requiem For a Dream/Black Swan/The Wrestler/Mother!/The Whale, so it would be concerning if he didn’t want to take a crack at something more upbeat and crowd-pleasing, even if it still doesn’t pull many punches.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
