Don Reviews "Caught Stealing"

Being in the wrong place at the wrong time is a common theme that runs through films, especially action/adventures.  When something crazy happens, the main character’s life tends to spin out of control and go places they never imagined they could have been and in situations they really have no need to be in.  For Austin Butler’s Hank Thompson in Caught Stealing, this couldn’t be more true on multiple levels.

This is the latest film directed by Darren Aronofsky (The Whale) and also boasts a cast including Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber and, Benito “Bad Bunny” Martinez Ocasio.  It’s 1998 in New York City, and Hank is a bartender who is in a serious relationship with Yvonne (Kravitz).  He used to be a great baseball player, but due to an unfortunate incident his career ended early.  Hank’s neighbor Russ (Smith) has to head back to London due to a family illness so he is asked to look after Russ’ cat, and in his absence, people in the criminal world come calling with Hank getting caught in the middle.  What follows is the story of Hank dealing with Russ’ sins, even though he has no ideas or any answers for what the criminals are wanting from him.

I will be blunt about this film: it is very dark and gritty with its huge amount of violence and multiple adult situations.  When it comes to the acting, Butler does well in showing a guy who had tough times alongside Kravitz who plays his caring girlfriend but can only take so much.  Smith, King, and Bad Bunny are also good for this type of film and do not disappoint.

At just under two hours, this script flows well and does not drag taking a simple premise and adding some twists and turns.  Unfortunately, some of them didn’t really take me by surprise, but still added to the enjoyment.  I do like they tried to add a bit of comedy to the chaos, keeping the story from getting too much into the “doom and gloom” of it all, and even the cat gets in on the fun.  Be warned Caught Stealing is not for everyone, but this one is also not the same type of film that I think we have seen before from Aronofsky, but I still had fun with it which is why I will recommend seeing it in a second run theater.