Caught Stealing (A PopEntertainment.com Movie Review)

Caught Stealing

CAUGHT STEALING (2025)

Starring Austin Butler, Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D'Onofrio, Griffin Dunne, Benito A Martínez Ocasio, Carol Kane, Tenoch Huerta, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Brill, Action Bronson, George Abud, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Nikita Kukushkin, McKinzie J. Scott, Georgia Piña Clark, Laura Dern and Tonic the Cat.

Screenplay by Charlie Huston.

Directed by Darren Aronofsky.

Distributed by Columbia Pictures. 107 minutes. Rated R.

It’s hard to believe this violent, fast-paced, fun-but-trivial action film was made by very arty, deep auteur Darren Aronofsky, the director of such dark, surrealistic dramatic fare as Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, The Wrestler, The Fountain, mother!, Pi and The Whale.

The good news is that it turns out Caught Stealing is proof that an exciting comic thrill ride falls well within Aronofsky’s skill set. In fact, the new movie is a whole lot more fun, and just plain better, than anything Aronofsky has made in about a decade and a half – although an enjoyable experience is in general not really what the filmmaker offers up with his movies. Truthfully, most of Aronofsky movies are hard-wired to depress the audience, but often in a good way.

So, it’s nice to see him loosen up.

Not that Caught Stealing doesn’t have some dark moments, and it’s sometimes rather violent. Still, this movie is just a potboiler, and it’s all the better for its low motivations.

Caught Stealing takes place in New York City in 1997. (In fact, Caught Stealing is the second cinematic love song to New York in recent weeks, following Spike Lee’s fun and similarly-vibed Highest 2 Lowest.)

Austin Butler plays Hank, a former baseball phenom (and San Francisco Giants superfan) who had ruined his knee in a fatal car crash which killed his best friend, ending his chances of playing in the big leagues. A little over a decade later, he is an alcoholic bartender working in a Manhattan dive bar, living in a sad, tiny apartment, and in the middle of a casual affair with Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), a sweet and pretty but hard-edged local woman who may just care for Hank more than he cares for himself.  

Hank’s adventure starts – as so often happens in life – from a very simple circumstance. Hank’s punk-rocker neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) has to return home to London to care for his dying father. Russ asks Hank to take care of his cat while he is gone. Hank doesn’t like the idea; he’s not really a cat guy. However, Yvonne thinks that it may help the commitment-phobic Hank take some responsibilities in his life.

And by the way, Tonic the cat – playing the role of Bud, the neighbor’s cat who inadvertently is part of setting all the wheels in motion with a whole bunch of mobsters – gives possibly the best animal performance in years, just by being himself. Every time he was in a scene, no matter how much mayhem was going on around him, your eyes couldn’t help but wander back to him. It’s no wonder that Hank, a devout dog person when the film starts, regularly puts his life in serious danger just for safety and comfort of the cat.

When Hank is going to get some cat food from Russ’ apartment, he is confronted by two Russian mobsters looking for Russ. They beat Hank to the point that he is hospitalized. When he gets out, he is being chased and attacked by several underworld sorts from different mobs.

Particularly funny are the Hasidic Jewish gangsters – played by Live Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio and Carol Kane – which is particularly impressive because much of their dialogue is in Yiddish with subtitles. Particular props go to D’Onofrio for his impressive fluency in Yiddish, Schreiber and Kane are both Jewish and have done the language on screen before, but D’Onofrio is of Italian heritage and apparently learned the language on set.

Beyond all these talented supporting actors, there are also fun appearances by Regina King, Griffin Dunne, hip-hop artists Benito A Martínez Ocasio (a/k/a Bad Bunny) and Action Bronson, and even an uncredited cameo by Laura Dern.

In the long run, much of the criminal plot doesn’t make all that much sense, but that is okay. Caught Stealing turns out to be a funny and exciting summer entertainment. Maybe Darren Aronofsky should lighten up more often.

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2025 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: August 20, 2025.