CAUGHT STEALING
(director/writer: Darren Aronofsky; screenwriter: Charlie Huston/based on the novel by Charlie Huston; cinematographer: Matthew Libatique; editor: Andrew Weisblum; music: Rob Simonsen; cast: Austin Butler (Hank Thompson), Zoe Kravitz (Yvonne), Regina King (Det. Roman), Matt Smith (Russ), Griffen Dunne (Paul, bar owner), Dominique Silver (Lisa), Liev Schrieber (Lipa), Vincent D’Onofrio (Shmully), Carol Kane (Bubbe), Bad Bunny (Colorado), Nikita Kukushkin (Pavel), Yuri Kolokoinikov (Aleksei); Runtime: 107; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Ari Handel, Darren Aronofsky, Dylan Golden, Jeremy Dawson; Columbia Pictures; 2025)
“A lightweight crime film with snappy dialogue.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A lightweight crime film with snappy dialogue that artfully blends together black comedy and action. Darren Aronofsky (“The Whale”/”Mother!”) is the talented director/writer whose filmmaking skill makes this offbeat film work. It’s different from his usual more serious films. Charlie Huston adapts it to the screen from his 2004 violent novel.
The 30-something former high school pro baseball prospect Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) is a bartender on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 1998, working the night-shift in a saloon owned by Paul (Griffen Dunne). He had to give up a promising career with the SF Giants 15 years ago when the California teen got into a traffic accident that severely damaged his knee and ever since has nightmares. The aimless alcoholic feels like a loser living in a small apartment with no more big dreams, but has a nice paramedic girlfriend named Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz) who is trying to give him tough love to keep him upbeat.
Hank’s punk rock weirdo English next-door neighbor friend Russ (Matt Smith), sporting a mohawk, asked him as a favor to watch his cat while he checks on his dad in London. Trouble comes when a couple of Russian goons (Nikita Kukushkin & Yuri Kolokoinikov) give him a beating when he asks what they are doing at Russ’s apartment, as they suspect he took the money Russ owes them. Hank now must go on the run from other bad dudes who suspect Hank of also stealing the money owed them from their criminal ventures with Russ, as Hank finds a key hidden in the cat litter box.
The sarcastic police detective Roman (Regina King) investigating the beating, tells him his friend is probably involved in some kind of criminal activities.
It results in Hank chased through the city’s grimy streets by Colorado (Bad Bunny), a Puerto Rican criminal night club owner, and two Hasidic gangsters, Lipa (Liev Schreiber) and Shmully (Vincent D’Onofrio). But he doesn’t give in to them and finds renewed strength to again believe in himself.
Butler’s star performance as a regular guy you care about carries the film, while supporting actors Schreiber and D’Onofrio are hilarious.
Tarantino, the Coen Brothers and Soderbergh have made similar high quality conventional pulp films that became audience favorites.
REVIEWED ON 8/31/2025 GRADE: B+
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